The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2
by RetroWriter2012
Summary: In this sequel to "World of Disney," Joanie Navarro ends up in a world different from the one she was born into as a different woman, encountering faces familiar to her previous life and superheroes out of the Marvel Universe that assist her in destroying "The Sphere," the key to the world of Disney Animation, as it unleashes a new threat. Reviews are welcomed!
1. Prologue

**Prologue: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Base – 2012**

When Nick Fury himself called in the early hours of the morning, Agent Sean Livingston knew that it was worth losing a few measly hours a sleep for. A quinjet was provided for Sean to fly him out of his home in Anaheim, California and across the California coastline, heading right over the Pacific. Despite the quickness of the quinjet, the flight was long and exhausting and Sean was left only with songs downloaded on his MP3 to keep him from falling asleep on the way to the Helicarrier. During the entire flight, he wondered what the big emergency was that required him – a typical S.H.I.E.L.D. operative – to take care of. With Fury's "Avengers Initiative" in full effect for merely a month, Sean figured the problem must not have been too major for "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" to handle.

After nearly an hour, the quinjet arrived upon the Helicarrier; it was in its aircraft carrier position upon his arrival, floating gracefully upon the waters of the Pacific. The pilot received his clearance for landing on the flight deck and, as soon as the quinjet landed and the engines were shut off, Sean exited the jet. The dawn loomed over the sky as he walked across the flight deck, seeing Fury standing near the entrance and waiting for him. "There's the man of the hour," he said, shaking Sean's hand as soon as he reached him.

Sean went right to business. "What's the emergency, sir?"

"Follow me, Agent. I'll explain on the way."

While Fury led him inside, the Helicarrier began to disengage from the Pacific waters and take flight to the skies, activating its camouflage mode upon moving skyward. Hundreds of S.H.I.E.L.D. passed in and out of the halls as Fury and Sean walked and talked. "As you know, your aunt stumbled upon a miraculous discovery in the Mojave Desert thirty-five years ago. Next to Captain America, it was the biggest one for the government."

"And after Aunt Nicole's retirement, my mother had been recruited for project that involved the…the…is 'giant golf ball-looking thing' the appropriate term, sir?"

"Bruce Banner calls it a 'The Sphere.'"

Sean swallowed hard upon hearing the name of the scientist who was also known as "The Hulk." "B-Bruce B-B-Banner, s-sir?"

Hearing the nervousness in his voice, Fury calmly told him, "Relax, Agent. I have it on good authority that Banner has his 'transformations' completely under control. It _was_ the Hulk who helped save the world last month, wasn't it?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Sean nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now that we've assessed that, let's refocus on the reason I've brought you here. Earlier this morning we encountered a visitor who somehow managed to get inside the top secret Mojave base. We brought you here to get some answers from her."

Sean's eyebrows rose in surprise of the gender of the "visitor." "_Her_?"

"Yes, our perpetrator is a woman, Agent. Is that gonna be a problem for you?"

Sean shook his head. "No, sir."

"Whatever she knows could jeopardize the project – a project that the government placed us in charge of, should I remind you. So it's up to you to see just how much info she has in her intelligence. If it's more than we anticipated, then we'll have to put her in the deepest hole in the earth…whatever confinement we can muster up."

Sean accepted his orders with a nod, but also gave a curious inquiry. "Is she dangerous?"

"We didn't seem to have a problem taking her down – Cap clogged her over the head real good with his shield…knocked _this_ clean off of it." Fury reached inside of his long black leather coat and retrieved what appeared to have been a sparkling, pointy blue hat with a crescent moon and a few stars decorated upon it. It was the oddest thing Sean had ever seen, which was amusing since he had seen a lot of weird stuff in his still-fresh career as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. "We'll be keeping surveillance on your interaction. If our 'visitor' makes a move of any kind, just use the code word and we'll send in backup."

"What's the code word?" Sean inquired.

"Help."

The sarcasm was evident in Fury's voice as he gave his answer. Sean knew it was done to help lighten the mood before he went in to face what could have been a being that was twice as powerful and dangerous as Loki was. Fury's words made him greatly nervous of the task that he brought in to take care of. If this woman was capable enough of getting into a top secret facility, then what more could she be capable of while he was in that room with her. It sounded like a situation suitable for the Avengers – or at least one or two of them; but Sean refused to make himself look weak…especially on his first major assignment.

The two men stopped by a holding cell door that could only be accessed via keypad. Fury dialed in the code that unlocked the door, allowing Sean to walk into a room with four steel walls and no windows. There was a working sink with a mirror above it, a functioning toilet that was out in the open, and a bed that looked more like a flatbed attached to the wall. Currently occupying the bed was a woman with long dark blonde hair, wearing a red robe. Her back was facing Sean at the moment he entered, leaving it impossible to see what she looked like. From the way in which Fury described her, Sean wondered if the woman was a legitimate freak like _The Elephant Man_.

_There's only one way to find out_, the young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent thought.

"Hey there," Sean enthusiastically said.

The woman's head slowly turned in response to Sean's voice, and he got a clear view of her face. This woman was Caucasian with eyes that randomly changed from blue to green to grey and a perfect complexion; she looked to be in her early thirties – about a few odd years older than the twenty-six-year-old Sean. Indeed the woman was beautiful, if not remarkably gorgeous, making it hard for him to see her as any type of threat to S.H.I.E.L.D. Even the lovely, bright smile that emerged on her face upon seeing Sean did not classify her as intimidating as he believed.

He was about to continue his greeting with an introduction for himself, until the woman happily shouted his name before he did. "Sean!" She then leaped off the flatbed and ran to him, giving him a tight, warm hug. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see a familiar face in this insane world!"

The action greatly confused the young agent; this woman was certainly as strange as Fury said. Pulling her off of him, he gave her a strange look as he asked, "Have we…met somewhere before?"

The woman was surprised over his confusion. "Sean…it's me…your mother."

"Uh…no. My mother isn't white, young enough to be my sister, or crazy."

She lightly touched her face and had an expression on her face that was as if she was remembering something important. Turning to the mirror above the sink, she oddly looked at her reflection and examined every detail of her face. "I knew I wasn't dreaming. It really _did_ happen."

Her words only puzzled him even more. "_What_ happened?"

Returning her focus on him, she softly said with a grin, "I died."


	2. Chapter One

**Note: For those who have not seen _The Avengers_, there is a MAJOR spoiler from the movie in this chapter! Read at your own risk! :-)**

* * *

**Chapter One: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Base – 2012**

"Did she just say that…she _died_?"

Fury had been watching the entire scene between Agent Livingston and the mysterious woman through footage from the surveillance camera projected in hologram form onto the conference table near the Helicarrier Bridge. At his side were Steve Rogers and Maria Hill, both watching along with Fury; the one statement uttered by the woman took Rogers by surprise.

"What did she mean by that?"

Fury shook his head in confusion. "No idea." He then turned to Hill and asked, "What do we have on her?"

"Nothing much." Hill reported. "She claims her name is Joanie Navarro-Thomas."

"Well, do we have anything on a 'Joanie Navarro-Thomas' then?"

"Our computers came up with a Joan Navarro – no 'Thomas' at the end – that lives in Orlando, Florida. She died just a week ago from natural causes. She was only fifty-eight…no next of kin." Hill gave that last bit of information with a sympathetic tone that Rogers seemed to share with her; Fury, on the other hand, did not appear to care. The S.H.I.E.L.D. director's focus was primarily on what took place inside the holding cell between his agent and their visitor.

* * *

There was no training S.H.I.E.L.D. could have prepared Sean with for what this strange woman standing in front of him dished at him. For minutes he listened to her ramble on about having died and reincarnated as a completely different woman, yet still retained the memories of her previous life. Before she could have gone on any longer, he stopped her and asked, "What's your name?"

She shrugged while answering: "I have no clue after now. I mean, I used to be Joanie Navarro-Thomas, but now…" She looked back to the only mirror in her cell, analyzing her face again. "I just _really_ don't know. But, one thing's for sure – I am _not_ Joanie Navarro-Thomas anymore."

Sean decided to have a little fun with the woman at his expense; he started to become less freaked out by her and more amused; clearly, she appeared like a mental case to him. "How about 'Gigi?'"

She looked back to him with a cringe. "Gigi?"

"It was my great-grandmother's name, or nickname, I suppose."

"Gigi" shook her head and chuckled. "Your great-grandmother's name was Yvette, Sean."

The young agent grinned. "You still think that I'm your son."

She gestured to his S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. "And what're you doing wearing _that_ thing? Have you joined the military or something? Just how long have I been gone?"

Sean glanced to the surveillance camera that loomed over them as if he were looking to Fury on the other end for help. The interaction swerved its way back to being awkward again, but Sean was prepared for just how to handle it. "O.K., so…I'm your son," he began, trying not to sound _too_ sarcastic. "What was the last thing you remember me doing before you _died_?"

Gigi hesitated for a slight moment as he tried to answer him. "Y-You stood over me and said that you were gonna miss me…and that you'd always love me." She sniffed a bit, signifying that she was on the verge of crying. "You were so unsure how you were gonna move on without me. It was so unfair to you and your sisters. I wasn't old enough to leave you all, but another force decided it would be time." She approached him and affectionately placed both her hands at the sides of his face. "I'm so sorry, Sean."

Listening to her and seeing the genuine sadness in her eyes, Sean somewhat trusted the fact that she was telling him the truth. The only contradiction was that his mother never went by the name of "Joanie Navarro-Thomas." Curiously, he asked Gigi, "When did you die?"

She shrugged and sighed. "I don't know. A week? A month? A year? Apparently _some_ time has gone by if you've joined the Armed Forces."

"I'm _not_ Armed Forces."

"Alright, then the Navy."

"I'm not the Navy."

Gigi chuckled. "Then is it Halloween? Because that's a pretty convincing uniform you've got on, especially that funky symbol there." She pointed to the two S.H.I.E.L.D. insignias stitched to the left breast and upper right sleeve.

Sean was slightly insulted from her comments over his uniform, and he did not hesitate in setting the record straight with her. "I am an agent of a secret organization called S.H.I.E.L.D. The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."

Gigi whistled humorously. "No wonder you guys settled on S.H.I.E.L.D."

"That was Agent Coulson's idea."

"Smart man."

"Yes, he _was_."

Hearing how much emphasis he put on the word "was" clued her in on the fact that this "Agent Coulson" was dead. "I'm sorry."

Sean nodded despondently. "He went out the only way he preferred – fighting."

"Sounds like he was a great man." There was brief silence before Gigi got enough courage to make an important request. "Look, since you're part of this S.H.I.E.L.D. team or whatever, you can talk to the H.D.C. about the sphere they've got locked away in the Mojave Desert."

The young agent raised his hands for her to stop. "Whoa, whoa. First off, what the hell is a H.D.C.?"

"Head Dude in Charge."

Nodding with amusement over the title, Sean continued: "Nice, but I honestly have to know how you know so much about Project Geo. My boss tells me that you broke into the base in the Mojave – a _heavily fortified_ base, I might add. How did you manage to get in there and get close enough to the sphere?"

"That's _my_ secret." She looked up to the surveillance camera that Sean glanced at earlier and added in a mildly aggressive tone, "And I won't give it away until I speak to the H.D.C. _now_!"

Sean looked up to the camera at the same time she did, only to give a defeated look to the audience of Nick Fury.

* * *

As soon as Gigi became somewhat hostile during their "interrogation" of her, Fury made the order for Livingston to leave her holding cell and meet with him on the bridge. He kept his eye on the footage that was just Gigi leering at the camera; after a while, he could have sworn he saw those eyes of hers turn completely white just as the image of Tony Stark popped up in a separate window, blocking the one that featured Gigi. Angered by his interruption, Fury shouted, "Dammit, Stark! I told you _not_ to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. communications!"

"It's just _way_ too much fun not to." Stark said.

With a heavy sigh, Fury merely accepted Stark's interruption, especially when it meant something important. "Did you find out anything from the Sphere?"

"I don't know how you guys could've examined this thing for thirty-five years and think that it was tech." Stark responded. "I mean, it's not even _Earth_ tech…more like _alien_ tech."

Fury appeared highly curious over Stark's analysis. "Are you saying that we're dealing with _another_ alien artifact?"

"If we are, then that beautiful young lady you have locked up on your ship must know enough about it to sneak past your security without any difficulty. Either she's your most valuable asset in finding out the truth behind this thing…"

"…or she's as big of a threat to us as Loki was." Fury concluded Stark's last statement, letting his suspecting tone loud and clear. "Keep looking into that sphere, Stark. You and Banner do whatever's necessary to get inside that thing and find out what it's capable of."

Stark mocked a salute in front of Fury and said, "Aye-Aye, General."

Once Stark disconnected, Fury said under his breath, "Jackass."


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two: Project Geo Base – Mojave Desert – 2012**

Donned in his high-tech Iron Man armor, Tony Stark hovered near the structure of the mysterious geodesic sphere, scanning every inch of it. Down below, situated just fifteen feet across from where the sphere was nestled, Bruce Banner and Erik Selvig worked through an open laboratory and followed the readings from the heads up display from Stark's helmet as they came through the high-definition screens near them. Standing with the two scientists in the lab were Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. Black Widow) and Clint Barton (a.k.a. Hawkeye), two heavily specialized agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sent by Nick Fury to oversee progress; so far, it appeared to them that Stark, Banner, and Selvig had everything under control.

"Not getting any radiation levels." Stark notified.

"With a hull as thick as that, I wouldn't be surprised." Selvig stated. "The radiation must be inside of it – contained by the metal alloy that makes up the sphere itself."

Gazing through the readouts projected in holographic form before his face, Stark studied the sphere's structure without the assistance of his onboard computer; he was then struck by a bold idea. "I'm gonna breach through the hull."

Stark's idea was met with negative reaction from the people below him, particularly Bruce Banner. "Uh, I don't think that'd be a good idea, Tony. We don't know what might come out of that…"

"I'm feelin' hungry, Bruce. I'm gonna crack this eggshell one way or another."

Following on those words, Tony reached out with one arm and directed his metallic fingertips toward the top of the sphere. Lasers suddenly shot out from the fingertips, cutting a perfect circle into the steel structure. At first it looked as if the lasers from the Iron Man suit had no effect on the hull, leaving just a smoking outline of a circle over the structure; but, with a single, powerful repulsor blast, Stark busted through the structure and created a hole perfectly suitable for him to enter through.

Watching Stark enter the sphere, Widow shook her head. "Always the risk taker."

"One of these days that's gonna end up being the death of him." Hawkeye added.

"Are you reading any radiation leakage, Bruce?" Selvig inquired while studying readouts from Stark's HUD display.

Banner checked a lab-based computer and answered in surprise of what he had seen on the readout: "There are zero levels. There's no radiation coming out of that sphere at all."

"You guys still there?"

Stark's voice sounded over the speakers, prompting Bruce to put on a headset to respond to him. "Tony, where are you in the sphere right now?"

"Check the screens. I've got J.A.R.V.I.S. to put on the night vision. It is _seriously_ dark in this thing."

They looked to screens to find Stark moving through what appeared to have been an empty corridor. Between the night vision from Stark's helmet and a distortion in frequency, there was a slightly fuzzy contrast on the screen, making it somewhat difficult for them to pick up on the details of the corridor; from what Bruce could make out, it was alien in design. "There's nothing on earth that could've structured that type of interior," he deduced.

"I'm not picking up anything through J.A.R.V.I.S." Stark notified. "It's not titanium, vibranium, adamantium…none of it. It's like some new brand of metal that just doesn't exist on this planet."

"Or this dimension." Selvig quietly said.

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Base – Pacific Ocean – 2012**

Lying on the flatbed was beginning to take its toll on Gigi, who was left staring up at the ceiling for hours after her interaction with the young man who _looked_ like her son, Sean Thomas. The entire exchange stuck in her mind ever since, wondering how so much had changed in the years she had been gone – if it even had been years and not days or weeks. Judging from how young Sean appeared in their interaction, it seemed like no time had passed at all. Meeting her son had left her missing the rest of her family – her three daughters (Kimberly, Ciciley, and Meagan) and her cousin Tracy; between missing them and having Sean completely unable to recognize who she was, Gigi never felt so alone her whole life.

Despair was soon replaced with hunger as Gigi felt and heard the pit of her stomach gurgling from starvation. Ever since she woke up in the Mojave Desert and came across S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top secret base, she had not received any sustenance for this new body of hers. She looked down to her stomach, which was covered by the black sleeveless shirt she wore beneath her red robe. As she looked, Gigi noticed something peculiar: **a faint glow on her abdomen**. Pulling up her shirt halfway up, Gigi realized that her _entire abdomen was glowing_; there was a faint golden hue emerging through her peached skin while her stomach continued to gurgle.

The confused look on Gigi's face told the fact that this experience was entirely new to her. She watched as the golden hue continued to swirl and glow around her stomach, outlining the organ. Gigi could feel the strange light in her, giving off a rather peculiar sensation that was slightly discomforting yet satisfying. After spending some time in her stomach, the light traveled upward through her esophagus and finally through her mouth. What happened next to Gigi would be commonly known as a belch, but this one emitted the strange energy that had been swirling around inside of her, escaping from her mouth.

_Well…that was different_, she thought with amusement.

After the strange occurrence, she heard the holding cell door slide open. Sitting up and turning her head towards the door, she saw Sean enter with a tray of food. "Hey," he said with a smile. "I brought you something."

Gigi smiled while watching him bring the tray over to her flatbed and sit it down beside her. Although she was heavily grateful that he brought her two slices of pepperoni pizza and a liter bottle of _Dr. Pepper_, the strange bodily effect that happened to her prior to his arrival appeared to have erased the hunger from her body; it was as if it knew she was hungry and fed itself through some bio energy. Rather than choose to refuse such a delicious meal, Gigi still accepted it with much delight.

"Thanks, Sean." She remarked before taking a bite out of one of the two pizza slices.

"So, uh…I was thinking about what you told me earlier," Sean began, "and I…I actually believe you."

Gigi swallowed her first bite both instinctively and in surprise of what he had said. "You…do?" She saw him nod in reply with a smile, which brought warmth in her heart. "I'm so glad to hear you say that. I knew you'd believe that I'm your mo—"

"I'm not admitting to _that_." Sean quickly clarified.

The warmth in Gigi's heart was suddenly dispersed. "Oh…"

"I believe that you broke into the Mojave Base without being detected…and I want you to try and do it again."

His request caught her by surprise. She looked to the surveillance camera, remembering that Fury and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were observing everything that took place in her holding cell. "Aren't ya gonna get in _serious_ trouble with your boss by asking me that?" She asked in a whisper.

"Don't worry. I shut off surveillance before I entered. The only footage Fury, Hill, and Cap are seeing right now is you sleeping."

Gigi grinned. "Clever."

"Can you really do it?"

She paused for a moment, taking another bite from her pizza before answering his question. "I can…but I'm gonna need my hat in order to do it. It's the source of my power."

Sean raised a curious eyebrow. "Power?"

"I suppose since Popeye isn't eavesdropping on us it's safe to tell you this – I'm a sorceress." Sean's eyes widened with interest. "I wasn't always one, of course. That machine – the sphere – it changed me biologically, turned my genes around to give me the power that's necessary to do the things that I do…and I can do _a lot_."

"So the magic…is in your blood?"

Gigi nodded. "Some things are still new to me – like how my appearance changed after I died. I think my magic reincarnated me…possibly wanted me to continue on my journey as a sorceress."

"If it's literally in your blood to create magic, then why do you need that hat? Couldn't you just teleport yourself to the base right here and now?"

Gigi shook her head. "I wish it were that simple, hon. The hat grants me the extra boost I need. Without it, I could risk permanently damaging myself." She smiled brightly and added, "If you can retrieve it for me, that'll do me a _huge_ favor."

"Hey, anything I can do to help."

Just after the young agent made that last statement, the holding cell door slid open once more, allowing two armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to enter and aim their guns directly at Gigi, who immediately stood up and held her arms in surprise and confusion. She looked to Sean, who she hoped to get some answers from to explain this unexpected scene; but, seeing the serene look on his face upon the sight before him, she immediately suspected something. "You lied," she realized. "They were listening the whole time!"

"We were indeed," said the voice of Nick Fury, who entered the room and stood in between the armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. "But it was for good reason."

"Really?" A disbelieving Gigi uttered. "And would that reason be…Oh, I dunno…to _study_ me? Run disgusting tests on me to see how I tick? Because I'm gonna tell you right now, man, that _ain't_ gonna happen!"

"There was only one test…and you passed with flying colors." Fury responded to the immediate bewilderment of Gigi. "You're the only one on this earth who knows anything about that sphere. Whatever knowledge you possess about it could be valuable to us and the rest of the world."

"What do you intend to do with it?" Gigi queried. "Destroy it or use it for personal gain? I can personally tell ya that the first option would be the smartest."

"All we want to know is _what_ it is and how it got here. Whatever happens after that…is up to you."

Fury said the last part of his statement with a hint of frustration. It was obvious to Gigi that this was not an idea of his own, but someone else that managed to encourage it in him. Curiously, Gigi asked, "This was _your_ idea?"

The S.H.I.E.L.D. director groaned. "No, it was _his_." He gestured to Sean, who looked to Gigi and smiled. "Unlike the rest of us, Agent Livingston actually trusts the fact that you could be a great use to our objective. He's a good judge of character, which is why I put so much faith in this idea of his. Me, on the other hand…let's just say that if you even think of betraying my agent's trust, then you can kiss your butt goodbye!"

Glaring at Fury, Gigi turned her gaze to Sean, who seemed hopeful of her accepting the request. Even though she was incredibly thankful of the fact that he truly did trust her and the knowledge she possessed, she was still disappointed in him for baiting her into revealing her secrets to S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite the disappointment, there was no way she would refuse to help after her son made such a bold move in front of a tough-as-nails authority figure like Nick Fury. Gigi was just about to voice her approval until…

"Sir!"

All heads turned to the doorway just in time to see Maria Hill rush in with a look of urgency. "Barton and Romanoff just contacted us from the Mojave Base – they say that we have a problem."

"What _kind_ of problem?" Fury demanded to know.

Hill swallowed hard before answering him. "It's Stark, sir. He's…disappeared."


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three: Project Geo Base – 2012**

The entire trip to the project base in the Mojave Desert was a bit uncomfortable for Sean as he was tasked with keeping an eye on Gigi; Ellie Goulding's "Lights" was the only soothing thing for him as it played on his MP3. It was a less than ideal assignment for him, considering how displeased she was with how he tricked her into revealing her secrets. Sean admitted that it was an immoral plan of action, taking into consideration how "unbalanced" she appeared in front of the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel; and it seemed to have only made things worse between him and the mysterious "sorceress," as she called herself. As the two rode in the back of a black _Acura_ SUV with two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents dressed in suit and ties sitting up front, Sean removed the earphones connected to his MP3 and looked out the window to see a navy blue warehouse that was twenty stories high and fifty feet wide, and they were driving directly towards it.

Gigi looked out the same window as Sean, seeing the warehouse and softly saying the word "Groovy."

Sean cringed over her "old school" jargon. "Groovy? Nobody says 'groovy' anymore." She did not say a word to him, instead returning her focus downward to the floor, crossing her legs and folding her arms in a fit of anger. Her attitude towards him annoyed the young agent at first, but then it began to amuse him at that point in their "relationship." "You know you're gonna have to talk to me _sometime_."

The sorceress was heavily determined to keep her communication with Sean down to zero, and he merely left her to continue the silent treatment for an unspecified amount of time. Their caravan, which also consisted of other black SUV's that carried Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Steve Rogers, arrived at the entrance to the warehouse, which was guarded by two armed and uniformed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. One of the agents had to open the door to the warehouse through a control box mounted against its hull, pressing a purple button amidst a series of multicolored ones. In pressing the button, the entrance to the warehouse automatically parted open and allowed the caravan to drive straight through; once they were in, the entrance closed up and sealed them inside.

The section of the warehouse that they arrived in was a large, wide garage that currently had up to thirty-two other vehicles that were also black and from the same manufacturer parked. After parking their own vehicles, the group went to a large steel door just ahead where Fury placed his eye upon a scanner located to the right of it. A loud, electronic buzz sounded and the large steel door opening inward. Everyone followed the S.H.I.E.L.D. director through the door and instantly felt a surge of energy come through them upon entering what appeared to have been an observation deck.

Gigi instantly recognized the remarkable energy; it was from the sphere that she believed to have vanquished from reality thirty-five years ago. Up until the moment she arrived at the base, she did not want to believe that S.H.I.E.L.D. and the government had actually found the same sphere; but confirmation came when she looked through the window and saw it for herself. Housed at the core of the warehouse, several steel scaffolds surrounded the sphere's structure with several men donned in hazmat suits walking across and taking scans with a variety of particle detectors. Black lighting filled the area around the sphere, giving it a very otherworldly appearance; from how Sean viewed it, it might as well have been.

Noting the overwhelmed looks on the faces of Steve Rogers and Sean Livingston, Fury confidently asked, "Unbelievable, isn't it?"

"Unbelievable…Unacceptable…Inconceivable…I can think of _a lot_ of words to describe what you people have done here, _Mister_ Fury." Gigi sneered.

"I should remind you that you're a guest here, _ma'am_." Fury retorted.

"Of course I am! Because I'm the _only_ one who knows _anything_ about this monstrosity you've actually bothered to tamper with!"

Approaching footsteps were heard close by and everyone turned to see Bruce Banner enter the observation deck. "A 'monstrosity' that's caused one of our own to suddenly disappear."

Upon seeing Banner, Rogers nodded and smiled. "Good to see ya again, Doc."

Banner nodded back. "Right back at ya, Steve."

Fury got right to the point. "How exactly did Stark disappear, Dr. Banner?"

"Tony got curious about the workings inside the sphere. Through the visor from his helmet, we saw a massive array of alien tech inside."

Gigi sighed with annoyance. "It's _not_ alien. It was made by Bunsen Honeydew." Everyone looked at her with awkward expressions, slightly confusing her. "Doctor Bunsen Honeydew? None of you ever heard of him?"

"You're saying that this _huge_ piece of advanced technology was created…by a Muppet?" It sounded weird enough when Fury asked it aloud.

"I know it sounds funky. It did to me when I found out myself all those years ago. But I promise you it's the truth. All you've got to do is contact Bunsen and…"

"Alright, stop there!" Sean exclaimed. "We were willing enough to believe you about the whole 'being a sorceress' thing; but now you're telling us to go out and find a _fictional_ character to confirm that the tech we found was made by _him_?"

Sean's words confused Gigi even more. "Bunsen Honeydew is a _real_ person…er…Muppet! You know that, Sean! You met him yourself once!"

Ignoring her irrational claims, Sean looked to Fury and desperately inquired, "Sir, do we _honestly_ need her helping us? She's clearly not all there." His comment just made her even angrier towards him, glaring his way with her hands on her hips.

"Right now, I'm willing to accept whatever assistance I can take to get Tony Stark back here." Fury stated before he focused squarely on Gigi and added, "You need to tell us _everything_ you know about this sphere, starting with _where_ it took Stark and ending with _how_ we get him back."

Gigi let out an aggravated sigh. "I can tell you how to get him back…but, as far as telling you where he is…that'll be another unbelievable fact."

Fury self-assuredly grinned. "Try me."


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four: Realm D2010**

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

"What is it?"

"I have no idea. A knight, maybe?"

"Does a 'knight' normally look so…strange?"

"Depends on the kingdom."

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

"Is he dead?"

"I'm just wondering if there's even a person inside this…armor, I guess it is."

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

With her frying pan in hand, Rapunzel tapped upon the red and gold helmet of the "knight," as her new companion Flynn Rider called it, with great curiosity. It was her first day outside the tower and she saw many new things for the first time; but this knight was something beyond even Flynn's comprehension. Again, she tapped the helmet with her frying pan, only for Flynn to quickly snatch it away from her.

"I don't think it's such a good idea to poke at the oddly-dressed knight, wouldn't you say?"

Rapunzel looked to Flynn innocently. "I just wanted to see if he would wake up."

"How do we know if it's even a 'he' at all?"

A groan emerged from inside the helmet, causing Flynn and Rapunzel to jump in surprise; of course, Rapunzel was more so than Flynn, climbing on top of him and aiming her frying pan at the awakening knight. "He's awake! He's awake! He's awake!"

They watched the knight sit up and place a hand over his head, indicating that it was aching. He then spoke in a slightly automate voice, which Rapunzel and Flynn found to be more awkward than his appearance. "Ugh! What happened? J.A.R.V.I.S., are you still there?" There was no answer, which left Rapunzel and Flynn to wonder if the knight was referring to them, even though neither of their names were "J.A.R.V.I.S."

"Is he…talking to us?" Flynn whispered to Rapunzel, who merely replied by shrugging her shoulders.

The knight stood up, prompting Flynn and Rapunzel to back away further, and he gazed upon his surroundings until he finally focused on the two characters standing before him. "Ah, locals…_human_ locals. Guess I didn't go as far away from Earth as I thought." He approached them and said, "Hey there. Uh, judging from your clothes, I suppose that I landed in Germany or some…foreign…land. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" Flynn and Rapunzel made no reply and instead look to each other in confusion. "Ok. Not in Germany. Maybe I'm somewhere in Belgium."

"Are you a knight?" Rapunzel abruptly asked.

Surprised that it was in fact _perfect_ English being spoken from the girl, the knight seemed relieved. "Oh, thank god. Without the onboard translator, I would've had to depend on years and years of study. Can either of you tell me where I am? I think I was teleported here by weird alien technology."

Rapunzel's face scrunched in immense perplexity. "Alien…_what_?"

Even Flynn had trouble comprehending what the knight meant. "My friend, the only 'weird' thing here is you."

"I guess you both come from a relatively _small_ village, eh?" The knight presumed. "Well, for starters, my name is Tony Stark, but the rest of the world knows me as Iron Man."

Flynn smiled over the nickname. "Iron Man, huh? It suits you, no pun intended."

"Yeah. Like I haven't heard _that_ one before." Stark said with great sarcasm.

"Are you…normal like us?" Rapunzel queried.

"Of course." Stark answered. "This is just a suit. I'll show ya." The helmet he wore suddenly parted all by itself, allowing its wearer (Stark) to remove it from his head. Flynn and Rapunzel were worried that what they saw next would be out of the ordinary, but they felt thankful to see a human face that spoke with a normal voice. "See? Normal."

Rapunzel climbed off of Flynn and moved closer to Stark. "So…you _are_ a knight…like Flynn said?"

"I wouldn't say 'knight' per se." Stark stated.

"Then what _would_ you call yourself, Mr. Stark?" Flynn inquired while noting the way Rapunzel was circling around him.

"Entrepreneur, genius, innovator, philanthropist, hero…"

"Alright, alright. I get the message," said an annoyed Flynn. "Well, thanks for the scare. It's been ridiculously enjoyable, but we must be…"

"Would you like to come and see the lights with us?" Rapunzel unexpectedly asked with great excitement.

Flynn let out a hesitant chuckle. "Rapunzel, I'm sure our armored stranger here has _other_ things to…"

"Actually, I wouldn't mind one bit." Tony said. "It's been some time since I've stopped by Germany. I'm sure S.H.I.E.L.D. will send a rescue party after me eventually." He then offered his arm to Rapunzel and requested, "Shall we?"

She wrapped her arms around his and walked side-to-side with him through the forest. Flynn watched them with a look of disbelief; he found it difficult to see how Rapunzel could be attracted to such an odd guy after meeting him for just five minutes, whereas when she first met him, he got a frying pan to the head. He refused to admit to being jealous of "Iron Man," but – unbeknownst to himself – that was exactly the issue.

**Project Geo Base – 2012**

Sitting in lotus position atop an examination table, Gigi calmly ate a small bag of _M that was all she could do after explaining to Nick Fury and the rest of the group about where Tony Stark was, as they merely just stood and looked at her with gaping mouths and widened eyes for half an hour. After popping the last few M&M's into her mouth, Gigi finally snapped her fingers and brought the group out of the trance she inadvertently put them in. "Told ya it'd be a lot to take in," she said with a smile._

"This is crazy…no…this is…_insane_!" Sean exclaimed. "You're telling us that the sphere is a dimensional gateway to another universe…based _entirely_ on Disney cartoons?"

Gigi nodded with a smug look. "Pretty much it, yeah."

Just as before, Sean turned to Fury as if looking for reasonable thought. "She's wasting our time, sir. Probably stalling for time."

"Stalling for whom?" Gigi countered. "I'm all alone here!"

"She's not stalling, Agent." Fury told Sean. "Trust me. I've gone through enough interrogations to see when someone's stalling or telling the truth. And _she's_ telling us the truth."

Banner looked as confused as Rogers, Hill, and the other people in the room. "You mean Tony really is in a Disney cartoon…um…parallel dimension?"

"And _we_ have to get him out of there as soon as possible." Gigi said while hopping off the examination table and crinkling the _M&M's_ wrapper into a tiny ball in her hand until it literally disappeared in it. "If someone from the real world stays in one of the 'Disney Worlds' for too long, a massive rift will occur in that world, destroying it totally!"

"And how do you know _that_?" Fury asked.

Gigi appeared very distraught as she explained: "Because I've seen it happen before. An entire world…literally broken apart…right in front of me. I barely got out in time when there was nothing left."

"And that's what is gonna happen if we don't get Stark out in time?" Rogers questioned to which Gigi slowly nodded in reply. "Then we don't have a moment to lose. We need to send a rescue party."

"Agreed." Fury acknowledged. "Cap, you're going in with Agent Livingston. We'll monitor you from…"

"Hold up!" Gigi shouted.

Her command instantly brought silence over the S.H.I.E.L.D. director, who was not used to taking orders from civilians. "Is there something you'd like to add, _ma'am_?"

"Okay, first off, let's drop the whole 'ma'am' thing. My name is Gigi now, and I'd like to be addressed by that name, if it's not a problem. If it is, then you can call me 'Miss Thomas,' which I'd _strongly_ recommend from you, _Mister_ Fury." Gigi's request was met with some amused expressions – with the notable exception of Nick Fury himself. "And second, if you're sending anyone on any 'rescue party,' then you're gonna send _me_, too."

"Why you? Does this have to do with you being a sorceress?" Sean queried.

Gigi nodded. "In a way, yes. The sphere and I are connected, remember? I can take you to the _exact_ world where your friend is now and have him back here in less than a second."

Fury gazed long and hard at Gigi, taking at least a minute to come up with a final decision. "Alright. You're going in with Cap and Agent Livingston."

"I'm going, too." Banner stepped in and volunteered, much to the surprise of everyone. "Look, I know you're going to say it's a bad idea, Fury, but…"

"Actually, Doctor, I think it's a _great_ idea." Fury's response only added to the surprise of the people around him; even Banner was taken aback from his granted permission. Fury then gestured to Gigi and added, "Because in case _she_ gets out of line, you-know-who will take care of her."

Gigi stood confused of what Fury meant by his comment and was even more so when she heard Sean chuckling and saw him smiling. Curiously, she asked him, "What does he mean 'you-know-who' will take care of me?"

"Trust me…you _don't_ want to know." The young agent evasively answered.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five: Project Geo Base – 2012**

With her hands in pockets located on opposite sides of her red robe, Gigi stared long and hard at the sphere from Bruce Banner and Erik Selvig's open laboratory. The sight of it was bittersweet for the sorceress; she truly believed to have been rid of it after the nightmare it put her and her family through during her previous venture with it. Although it was the sphere that granted her with the powers she continued to possess in her new body, she knew it was a danger to all realities and had to be disposed of. She altered time and space to be rid of the troublesome mechanism, leaving only her memories and those of her mother and friends from the Muppet Theater in the year 1977 intact, as well as her connections to the Disneyverse. Neither her son nor anyone from the year 2010 would recall those events, which was how she intended it to be to keep them and the new timeline to come out of it all safe.

But the nightmare was far from over with S.H.I.E.L.D. harboring the sphere within the top secret base. She felt furious whilst glaring at its structure, wondering what would drive S.H.I.E.L.D. into tampering with it so much that it had left a man – or an "Iron Man" as they referred to him – trapped somewhere in the Disneyverse. Now it was up to her to literally bring him back to reality with help from Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and the young man she continued to believe was her son. While she waited for the men to ready themselves for the rescue mission, Gigi continued staring upon the sphere with agents moving about around her. Nearby, Fury observed her curiously with Maria Hill, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton standing beside and watching along with the S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

"What the hell is she doing?" Barton inquired after some time of observation.

"She claims to have a connection with the sphere." Fury answered. "My guess is that she's 'communicating' with it."

"Looks more like she's giving it the 'evil eye' to me." Natasha sarcastically deduced.

Fury almost chuckled from Romanoff's comment. "Whatever it is, let's hope it'll take us directly to Stark."

"You think we should really trust her with Banner, Cap, and one of our own?" Barton asked Fury.

"If she values her own life, she wouldn't think twice of turning on us…especially when _Banner_ is near." A smug expression masked Fury's face as he mentioned Bruce Banner in his answer; neither he nor anyone else, including Sean, had told Gigi the truth about why Banner was allowed on the rescue mission; they merely told her that his "scientific expertise" could be of some value to them.

Of course, what none of them realized was that Gigi was already aware of Banner's "condition" – the powerful green monster that lied within him; and if Fury really thought that "The Hulk," as she heard one agent in the base call the beast, could somehow stop her, then he was certainly mistaken. Gigi had faced worse monsters when she was still known as Joanie Navarro, working as protector of the Disneyverse, from Maleficent in dragon form to the Hydra in _Hercules_. She kept her awareness of the "secret" to herself in order to allow Fury to continue letting her be trusted in finding Tony Stark.

For the first time in the hour she spent gazing at the sphere, she finally turned to Fury and made a strict request. "I'll take my hat now." She extended her right arm towards him and opened her hand for emphasis. Fury remained hesitant in acknowledging her request until she exclaimed to him, "I'm serious, man. I'm gonna need it to find your guy."

Her word was all Fury had to go with; he walked over to her, removing the unusual pointy hat from beneath his coat and handing it over. With a smile, Gigi placed the hat upon her head; as he watched her do so, Fury could have sworn that her body emitted a radiant glow for a brief moment. He would have pondered over it further had Rogers, Banner, and Livingston had not entered the scene, appearing ready to leave. Rogers was donned in his Captain America uniform, which got quite a surprised reaction out of Gigi.

"Oh, w-wow." The sorceress stammered. "Captain Rogers, you look quite…um…very…erm…"

Rogers looked to himself in confusion. "What? Would this outfit compromise our mission?"

Gigi quickly shook her head. "No! No, of course not. It's just…"

Sean saw the amused grin on Gigi's face as she was eyeing Cap's suit from top to bottom – mostly the bottom – and he shook his head in disgust. Quickly, he moved in between the two and said, "May we _please_ get on with the mission now?"

As soon as she saw Sean, Gigi refocused on the task at hand. "Hmm? Right! Well, uh, you gentlemen just gather around me…but not _too_ close." She winked at Cap while adding that last instruction, only driving Sean even battier by doing so. "Now just shut your eyes and trust me."

Sean began to realize how much that command was easier said than done with the zaniness that Gigi displayed ever since she was brought to the base, but he did as she said nonetheless and closed his eyes. Rogers and Banner did the same and, shortly after them, Gigi did as well. Fury, Natasha, Hill, and Barton watched closely as Gigi outstretched her arms and tilted her head back, allowing her hat to point towards the sphere. The stars on her hat glowed and, once she opened them, her eyes also had glowed ghostly white. A peculiar humming noise radiated from the sphere itself while Gigi conjured up what Fury, Natasha, Hill, and Barton could only call _real_ sorcery.

Within seconds, the bodies of the sorceress and the three men were engulfed in a golden flash of light and rapidly atomized, vanishing into thin air. Fury and the other agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reacted to the phenomenon with immense astonishment; it was enough proof to them to show that all of what Gigi said about herself and the sphere was the truth. Of course, that did not necessarily meant Fury fully trusted her; even though she possessed great power, there was still a chance of her betraying them all. It would not be the first time Fury dealt with a being capable of wicked magic.

* * *

At the moment he reopened his eyes, Sean was taken aback from how discombobulated and nauseated he was from whatever Gigi had done to him, Rogers, and Banner. Everything appeared blurry to him, although it did not take much detail for him to see that he was outdoors in an area with lots of tall trees. Sean made an effort to stand up, but the nausea kept him from succeeding. Soon after his attempt, he felt a hand lightly touch his shoulder and Gigi's voice softly tell him, "Try to take it easy, hon. Your body's gonna need a little time to recover from traveling between dimensions."

"Where are we?" Sean managed to say in the midst of his recovery.

Gigi looked around them; it was indeed a jungle as she figured upon first setting eyes on it. "I'm not sure," she honestly answered.

Sean frowned in frustration. "What do you mean you're not sure? Didn't you know where you were sending us before you did your mumbo-jumbo?"

"Well, I'm…a little rusty?" She sheepishly explained herself, but it was not enough to calm the angry young agent down.

Just as he started to get his vision back and feel the nausea drop, Sean shot up to his feet and furiously shouted to Gigi: "A _little_ rusty? What kind of sorceress are you anyway?"

"Hey, at least I got us here, didn't I?"

It was then that Sean realized that Rogers and Banner were not anywhere near them. "Wait. Where's Cap and Doctor Banner?" Gigi looked about them as well and appeared surprised, expecting the two men to have arrived in the same space. She tried to give Sean a straight answer, but she had nothing for him. Her lack of an answer only made him more frustrated to the point where he drew out his Screaming Eagle and aimed it at her head. "Tell me where they are!"

Gigi stood shocked by his sudden action, raising her trembling arms up in protest. "S-Sean…h-how could you pull a gun on your own mother?"

"You're _not_ my mother! You're a threat to our mission and you _need_ to be eliminated!"

Gigi was at a loss for words; tears started to stream down her eyes upon watching the young man's finger begin to squeeze the trigger, showing exactly how serious he was about "eliminating" her. Not wanting to watch herself be gunned down, she shut her eyes tight and braced herself. There was a loud gunshot that made her jump instinctively, but she felt no extreme pain. Slowly she reopened her eyes and saw how Sean lowered his gun and looked upward curiously. The barrel of the Screaming Eagle was not smoking as she thought it would be, signifying that the gun had not been fired; of course, she was aware of that from the fact that she still alive and unharmed. That only begged the question as to where the shot came from.

Following the sound, Sean disappeared into the jungle. Gigi watched him leave, still shaking from the incident that just occurred between them. As much frightening images as she had witnessed within the Disneyverse, the sight of her own son pointing a gun at her head scared her the most. It was clear that the young man she arrived back in the Disneyverse with was _not_ her _real_ son; but her heart continued to reject the truth. That was why she followed after Sean with little hesitation, because she had to watch out for him while there in the yet-to-be-identified Disney world.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six: Realm D1995**

Rogers did not quite know what to expect after Gigi conjured up her magic to teleport him, Bruce, and Agent Livingston to the unspecified location where Tony Stark was. He assumed the disorientation he felt subsequent to it was normal, although no one was around to confirm that. When his eyes opened to the new world around him, he discovered that he was somewhere in a lush forest. Considering how the Mojave Desert lacked much vegetation, there was no doubt in his mind that he was in the other dimension – the "Disneyverse" as Gigi called it. Once his disorientation had passed, Rogers got to his feet to begin his mission.

He looked around to find no sign of the others; he arrived in the forest alone. At first Rogers wondered if there was a fault in Gigi's magic that caused the team to scatter across this new world, but then he expected the worse – she accidentally spread them across separate dimensions. Even though he knew very little about parallel universes (his only real experience having been with the "Loki Incident" not very long ago), Steve knew that to be trapped in one was the worst thing possible. He only hoped that his assumptions were wrong and that the others were somewhere in that world with him.

After a moment of recollecting, Steve soon heard what sounded to be a horn blown in the distance. Its sound echoed throughout the heavens and worked as an auditory compass for Rogers to follow and lead him to whatever civilization might have been near. It was possible that Tony Stark was picked up by the locals of this world. With that thought in mind, Rogers trekked through the forest. Leaping over logs and splashing across creeks, Rogers soon happened upon a river that was occupied by a series of canoes. The passengers were all Native American, most of who were of muscular build, paddling across the waters to reach what Steve could only assume was their village.

The emergence of these natives was a surprise for Rogers, who expected to find beings that were a lot stranger than the Chitauri in this parallel dimension. It raised many questions, the most crucial one being whether or not if Stark was with them. Not wanting to attract any attention, Rogers swiftly moved away from the riverbank and went through the forest once more. He trekked for what felt like hours before coming upon yet another river.

_How many rivers are in this place?_ Rogers thought in frustration.

Thankfully, this particular river was not filled with natives on canoes; however, he _did_ spot a young native girl standing upon a nearby cliff and letting the fresh breeze of the morning wind to pass her. Steve was not sure why she was up there; he figured it _was_ for the breeze; but she looked so peaceful that he could imagine himself being up there and doing the same.

"Pocahontas! Your father's back! Come down here!"

He heard another young girl shout close to his location. Looking down to the river, he spotted a lone canoe arrive at the scene, handled by another native girl – the one who was shouting to the one on the cliff. Rogers was surprised to hear that the girl on the cliff was in the fact a historical figure like him, except she did not look a thing like the _actual_ Pocahontas. It made him wonder if he traveled back in time rather than between worlds; of course, there was one thing that contradicted the idea: this Pocahontas did not look like the one recorded in history books. She was much prettier than the actual Pocahontas – just as pretty as Snow White from Steve's perspective.

_Could I have arrived in the history of this new world?_ He thought curiously.

As he pondered on the matter, he almost missed the spectacular sight of Pocahontas diving off of the cliff and into the waters below with a mild splash. She did not come back up through the surface for a while, which worried Steve a little. Her fellow native did not seem very concerned as she saw it as Pocahontas playing games. This turned out to be true when the canoe the native girl occupied had been turned over, putting her in the water with Pocahontas. Once they had their fun, they worked together in turning the canoe back its proper place and board it.

Rogers noticed that the two native girls were leaving for their village to meet with the father of Pocahontas, and he figured on that being the perfect opportunity to follow them to see if Stark was with them. Just like before, he moved swiftly from the riverbank to avoid being detected; unfortunately, in the process, he stepped on a twig that created enough of a sound to possibly attract attention. Steve hoped that the attention of Pocahontas and her companion were not on him; but, as he turned towards them again, he saw how they both were looking in his direction in wide-eyed surprise.

Judging from their expressions, it was certain to Steve that these girls had never seen a white man their whole lives (especially one dressed as he was at the moment) and it was also possible that they were not fluent in the English language. Rogers swallowed hard; he could not find any other way of communicating with these girls other than what he remembered from the old westerns he would watch at the movies. Though it sounded like a stereotypical maneuver to him, it was his best option at the moment.

Raising his right hand with the palm facing the girls and smiling sheepishly, he uttered one word: "How?"

**Realm D1999**

A second gunshot rang through the air while Sean and Gigi dashed through the jungle, following after the sounds. Livingston did not lose sight on their primary reason for being there – searching for Tony Stark – and the young agent appeared to have a hunch that the shots would lead them directly to the Armored Avenger. Gigi was surprised from how much the young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had recovered from his arrival and how weak she began to feel after running close to two miles through the jungle. She figured the exhaustion had to come from her usage of the magic that brought them there, and it was taking a toll on her new body.

_It was so much easier doing this before…even when I was an old lady!_ Gigi thought amongst panting heavily.

"Sean! Wait!" She cried to the relentless young agent, who began to disappear from her sight as she felt herself slowing down. "Sean! Hold up, kiddo!"

Of course, he did not bother to oblige to her demands, being too focused on his mission in finding Stark. Gigi had no other choice than to stop before she collapsed, stopping in one place in the jungle to bend down and catch her breath. She allowed her pointy blue hat to fall from her head and land on the grass; it instantly lost its majestic glow, drained of the same powerful energy that its wearer carried. Gigi stared upon the lifeless hat; she wondered how long it would take her to get used to traveling in and out of the Disneyverse with her new form. During her moment of deliberation and recuperation, another gunshot – which sounded _much_ closer than the previous ones – rang through the air; it was soon followed by the agonized screams of her young companion.

"Sean!" She yelled with a look of horror while rushing through the jungle. In her panic, she forgot about her hat, leaving it still lying on the ground.

Gigi came upon a section of the jungle that was cut down, signifying that someone or something had slashed their way through the thick bamboo trees. She also smelled the gunfire in the air, which served as her key to tracking where Sean was. Of course, as the young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent let out another scream, she knew _exactly_ which direction to go. Pushing hard through the bamboo, she arrived at a clearing where Sean was sprawled out on the grass and writhing in pain. Gigi saw how he clutched the right side of his torso with blood seeping through his fingers. Near where he was lying, some bamboo had been blown away from the gunshot.

Rushing to his aid, Gigi placed her hands atop of his to apply pressure on his wound. "Just relax, hon." She instructed him amidst his agony. "Everything's going to be fine, sweetie." Although she told him this to help put him at ease, she was saying it mostly for herself; she needed to keep calm for _his_ sake.

Soon Gigi heard approaching footsteps and looked up to see a cutlass slice through a section of the bamboo trees collected around the clearing. A slender, muscular, mustachioed man with graying brown hair and yellow clothing enter the clearing with his cutlass in one hand and a rifle in the other. Gigi recognized the man instantly, and he was even a major clue as to which part of the Disneyverse she and Sean arrived in – a world that she had visited before in her previous life. His name was John Clayton, a gorilla hunter and the villain of _Tarzan_…and, at the moment, the man responsible for shooting down Sean.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven: Project Geo Base – 2012**

It had been no more than fifteen minutes since Rogers, Banner, and Livingston left with the sorceress, Gigi, and Nick Fury's suspicions were already growing. It was never specified how long it would take to find Tony Stark and bring him back to their world, but Fury figured that – with Gigi's abilities – it was not that long. With little knowledge on how the sphere worked, there was no possible way of returning them without the need of Gigi. Suddenly the idea of Bruce Banner hulking out on Gigi was beginning to sound very pointless.

As Fury stood alone in the observation deck and stared at the sphere the entire time, the silence that surrounded him was soon disrupted from commotion beyond the door to the room. The observation deck's door opened, letting in the commotion that happened outside. Fury turned away from his view of the sphere and towards the open door to see a familiar woman enter with a pair of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that were attempting to stop her. Fury recognized the woman as Ciciley Livingston, mother of Agent Sean Livingston; she looked slightly older than when he last saw her with a few wrinkles around her face, which part of it covered from the black, graying hair she sported; at the moment of her surprise appearance, she wore a black leather jacket over a white tank top, dark blue jeans, and black boots. To Fury, Ciciley looked "young" for a woman of sixty-one years of age.

"Nick!" She shouted upon shoving her way past the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who dared to confront her.

"Cici," said a welcoming Fury, "Surprise to see you here after all these years. Never thought you'd show up." He raised a hand to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, beckoning for them to leave the both of them alone in the room.

As soon as the agents departed, Ciciley commenced in her business, which she was all about at the moment. "Where's my son?"

Fury was surprised that she knew about Sean having arrived there at the base; immediately, he feigned ignorance. "I have no idea what you're talking about. He's in Anaheim where he…"

"Cut the bull, Fury!" Ciciley snapped with her hands on her hips. "I know he's here. He _called_ me earlier, saying something about coming here to take care of some 'top secret' business or whatever crap you've got him calling it."

Fury moaned in aggravation. _When is that kid gonna learn to keep his mouth shut around his mother_, he angrily thought.

"And don't you dare put me being here on him!" Ciciley demanded. "I showed up because I'm scared for my boy!" She gestured to the sphere that she could see in plain sight from the observation deck window. "We've had this thing in stock for thirty-five years! _Nobody_ knows what it does! And you bring my son…_my_ son…here to do some investigation or whatever!" She looked Fury deep in his one good eye. "What have you got him doing, Nicholas?"

When she called him "Nicholas," he felt like he was in Sean's position as the kid in trouble. Ciciley was merely a decade older than he was; she was almost in line of becoming director of S.H.I.E.L.D. had she not gone into retirement by the time she reached the age of forty-eight. There was no getting past such a tough-as-nails former agent without making himself look like a total fool; so Fury opted for the best choice – telling the truth.

"You're right. He _is_ here on investigation." With this confirmation, Ciciley briskly turned away but stopped when Fury quickly added, "But he's not here." He knew that last comment totally contradicted his previous one, thus doing exactly what he _not_ wanted to do in front of Ciciley – make a fool out of himself.

She looked to him in confusion with a hint of frustration. "He's here but he's also _not_ here." Fury stammered on an explanation for his puzzling words; his behavior was something Ciciley had not seen in him since he became director, which was an obvious clue to her that something was up. Irately, she commanded, "Tell me what's going on, Nicholas…_right now_."

Fury sighed. "He's out…with someone…someone who's working on the investigation with him."

"Who is she?" Ciciley asked in suspicion.

He did not know where to start, so he went with the most obscene part first: "Well, from what she's told us, she's…his mother." He saw Ciciley's eyes grow wide – the fire in them clearly evident. Fury had dealt with many intimidating figures in his time, but none intimidated _him_ like Ciciley did. A mother's wrath was about to unfold, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

**Realm D1999**

Gigi did everything in her power to prevent herself from punching Clayton right across that bulbous chin of his after minutes of him constantly apologizing for firing upon Sean while he and Archimedes Q. Porter, an eccentric biologist and father of Jane Porter, helped bring him to their camp and assist in treating Sean's wound. They took him inside of a tent and laid him upon a cot where Archimedes began treatment of the wound. Gigi knew that she could handle treatment much quicker with her magic; unfortunately, in the rush to get the wounded Sean to the English explorer group's camp, she had forgotten that she left it back in the jungle.

"Is he going to be alright, Daddy?" Jane asked with great concern.

Archimedes took one look at Sean's wound to provide Jane with a clear answer. After looking, he frowned and answered, "Oh, dear. This young man has certainly quite an injury. Thankfully, the bullet wasn't lodged, but he _will_ require surgery if we're to stop the bleeding."

That was one diagnosis Gigi did not want to hear. She stormed out of the tent in anger, a gesture that caught the eye of a still-shaken Clayton, who followed her out of the tent. "I really am sorry for this," he told her. "I saw movement past the trees and I…"

"You _thought_ he was a gorilla!" Gigi snapped, glaring at the hunter.

Her spot-on deduction surprised Clayton. "Why…yes…yes, I did."

"And that's the problem we have here!" Gigi bellowed. "You _thought_ with your bullets instead of your brain!"

"Now see here, madam! I refuse to be talked down to by some _oddly_ dressed woman! What gives you the right to…?"

As he scolded her, Gigi saw that he still had the rifle he shot Sean down with in hand, which only made her angrier. "The right? The _right_? I'll tell you what right I've got! The same right to do this!" She then snatched the weapon out of the hunter's hand and used her remarkable might to snap the rifle in half over her knee. Clayton witnessed the incredible feat of strength in wide-eyed disbelief; never had he seen a woman capable of such force, especially one that shared the same size and frame as Jane Porter.

Throwing the two pieces of the broken rifle down to ground, Gigi walked out of the campsite afterward, not once looking back at the shocked and infuriated Clayton. Near the scene, Jane had peeked through the tent entrance, having witnessed the entire spat from there. Like Clayton, Jane was shocked to see how Gigi broke apart his rifle with such amazing ease and strength. Clearly, this was no ordinary woman they had discovered in the jungle; that much was obvious from the way in which her male companion was dressed. When she saw Sean's attire, Jane figured him to be part of some secret government agency in America in which such bizarre clothing were required; of course, it did not explain why Gigi was dressed even more bizarrely to Jane and possessed strength that surpassed Clayton's.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight: Realm D1995**

"Pocahontas, this is crazy! We have to warn the village of him!"

Standing in a clearing within the forest, Pocahontas and Nakoma observed the peculiarly dressed man that was Steve Rogers. Both native girls were baffled by his presence more than they were over his attire, yet Pocahontas remained the only one of the two of them to be heavily intrigued, circling around Steve with great curiosity. She lightly touched Steve's helmet, her hand retreating when she felt its texture, which was unusual to her. Seeing how curious she was about the helmet, Steve removed it from his head and exposed his short blond hair to the surprised native girls.

"It's my helmet." Steve said, handing it over for Pocahontas to analyze and even try on for herself. Rogers chuckled from the way Pocahontas looked with his helmet over _her_ head. "It's a good look for you." His attention was directed away from Pocahontas as he felt something climb up his leg and onto the belt of his suit. Looking down, he discovered Meeko, Pocahontas's raccoon friend, searching through the pockets on his belt; obviously, he was searching for food. Steve snickered, removing Meeko from his body and holding him up in his hands. "Won't find food there, little buddy. I forgot to bring some with me."

Hearing this, Meeko squirmed out of Rogers's grip and went back to Pocahontas's side. "Where did you come from?" Pocahontas inquired as she removed Steve's helmet from her head.

"Well, uh…that's kind of hard to explain." Steve honestly answered. "Where I come from is _very_ far."

"He's not like us, Pocahontas." Nakoma warned. "This white man is an invader to our land. We don't know what he might do."

"Ma'am, I assure you that I come in peace." Rogers assured.

Pocahontas looked long and hard at Rogers; there was something about this man that she trusted and, despite Nakoma's warnings, made her want to learn more about him. Turning to her fellow native, she instructed, "Go back to the village without me. I'm going to take Steve Rogers somewhere."

Clearly, this idea was met with skepticism from Nakoma. "Pocahontas! You can't…!"

"I will be all right." Pocahontas assured her.

The confident smile on her face convinced Nakoma that Pocahontas knew what she was getting herself into. As much as Nakoma tried to keep her out of trouble, there was just no talking her out of situations that were clearly not the way of their tribe; after all, her name _did _mean "Little Mischief."

"Fine." Nakoma accepted. "But if you don't come back when the sun sets, then your father _will_ be looking for you!"

With that warning established, Nakoma departed from the clearing and left Pocahontas to deal with Steve. Soon after her departure, Pocahontas focused her attention back on Rogers. "Come with me," she beckoned. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Baffled by her request, Steve merely nodded and said, "O.K."

**Realm D2009**

Bruce would not have imagined himself to be standing in 1926 New Orleans when he woke up in the morning. What had been happening to him ever since he volunteered for this expedition was nothing short of astonishing. There he was walking down a sidewalk and passing by people who were dressed for the era. It was New Orleans of a different time in a different world, and Bruce was taking it all in with a huge smile. Of course, he knew that he should have been looking for Tony Stark, who he knew was probably looking forward to the next Mardi Gras event.

Just as Bruce crossed a dark alley, he heard someone whistle his way. Turning his head in the direction of the whistling, he saw a rather tall and very slender mustachioed African American man with a gap in his front teeth, purple eyes, a dark maroon undertaker tailcoat, white spats over black shoes, a purple vest under his coat that did not completely cover his midriff, a necklace with two crocodile teeth, and a tall black top hat with skull and crossbones up front and a purple thin feather on top. This man brandished a cane with a purple globe on top that he pointed at Bruce with and said, "You look like a gentleman who's been through quite a bit in his lifetime."

Bruce laughed. "You have no idea."

"Of course I do." The man stated with a grin. "I know _all_ about you." He removed his hat, showing off the huge hairdo he had beneath it, and removed a card out of it, handing it to Banner. Taking the card, Bruce saw the name "Doctor Facilier" printed on it with the terms "Tarot Readings," "Charms," and "Potions" below it, as well as the selling tagline "Dreams Made Real."

Flattered by the offer, Bruce shook his head and politely declined, knowing a scam when he saw one. "Thanks, but…no thanks."

As Banner started to walk away, Facilier spoke up again. "A non-believer, I take it. But we both know what _you_ believe in is much bigger…and _greener_."

Banner stopped in his tracks once he heard Facilier give a close description of the Hulk, shocked to know that the voodoo bokor knew that the creature existed. "How do you know…?"

"Ah, ah!" Facilier said, waving a finger at Banner. "If you wanna know more, my friend, you're gonna have to follow me." He waved on for Banner to follow him into the alley. Bruce took the bait without having realized it, following Facilier deep into the alley until they came upon a courtyard.

Facilier pointed his cane towards a set of skull-shaped candles, using otherworldly abilities in lighting all of them. Above the candles was a sign that read "Dr. Facilier's Voodoo Emporium; and below the sign was the purple door that led inside the emporium of Doctor Facilier. He stood beside the door as it opened on its own and told Bruce, "Step inside, _Doctor_. We have _much_ to discuss."

Almost in a trance, Bruce acknowledged Facilier's command and moved inside of his shop without the slightest hint of hesitation. Facilier wickedly grinned upon following him inside, slamming the door shut behind him to seal both himself and Banner into the dark, foreboding atmosphere of the emporium.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine: Realm D1999**

Gigi did her best to focus on backtracking through the jungle in search for her powerful hat; her mind was still on Sean and his declining health. She knew that he was in good hands with Archimedes Porter, but there was no way that Sean would ever make it with the early twentieth century medicine that Porter was using to treat him. The only way Sean would survive injuries as extensive as his would be for her to use her magic to heal him. Every minute she spent searching for the hat felt like a minute that could have been used saving Sean's life.

When she came across an area of the jungle that had Clayton's hack job all over it, Gigi knew that she was on the right track. Eventually, she found a trace of blood – Sean's blood – in a section of the grass, knowing it was where Clayton had shot him; that could only mean Gigi was very close to the hat; she could practically _feel_ its energy in the air. Her heading established, Gigi moved much faster across the jungle to reach the spot where she last left her hat. Her rapid movements scurried away any small animals or insects that were in her path; she wanted to be careful when moving around them, but time was of the essence.

Once she reached the particular spot where her hat was, she was met with disappointment to find that it was not there. In her exhausted state, she felt confused and frustrated; she just _knew_ that she had left the hat there before rushing off to help Sean; so where could it have been? She _still_ felt the hat's energy surging through her, which could only have meant that it was near…_close_ near. At that point, she realized there was one thing to do in finding the hat – something that she had not even considered in her rush to save Sean. She sat down on the grass in lotus position, interlocked her fingers, and closed her eyes.

Taking slow, deep breaths, Gigi used a method that her sorcery master, Yen Sid, taught her when she was still known to her world and many others as "Joanie." She focused on connecting her soul with the energy from her hat, amalgamating to the two together in order to sense where it was. As soon as she got a fix on its location, she opened her eyes – a faint white light glowing from her pupils – just as a figure dropped from above and landed a few feet in front of her. Gigi smiled when she saw that the figure was "The Ape Man" himself, Tarzan, and he was carrying her hat in one of his hands, although it was a little scrunched under his mighty grasp.

Tarzan looked at her with his intense blue-green eyes that did not quite faze Gigi as much as it would have any other being – human or animal. Of course, Gigi was not human anymore; not like how she used to be. From her perspective, Tarzan – the missing link that he was in the eyes of both his ape and human families – was the most human character she had ever come across in the Disneyverse; and, at that current point of her _new_ life, she wished to have been as human as he was again. Slowly, she got back on her feet, keeping her gaze on Tarzan while doing so. After a brief silent moment, Gigi finally spoke to the Ape Man in a series of grunts, the only type of language that he was used to speaking at that point in his adult life.

The intense eyes of Tarzan changed to ones of astonishment; he grunted back to Gigi, who heard his words as if they were plain English. "You speak gorilla?"

Gigi nodded. "Yes, I do."

Tarzan curiously moved in closer to her; she knelt down to be at eye level with him, knowing what he had in mind. He got in very close to her face – so close that she would have been uncomfortable for Gigi, but she did not mind one bit. Tarzan looked at her hands and took hold of one, dropping her hat to the ground as he did so; he saw that Gigi had hands just like his, pressing his hand against hers to make them perfectly align with one another. A hopeful smile emerged on his face; she knew the reason for this smile was that he finally found someone who was like him. To confirm this, Tarzan leaned in on her chest, placing his left ear over it to hear Gigi's heartbeat. However, when the Ape Man heard beats that sounded irregular to the ones his adoptive mother taught him, he jumped back in surprise; that hopeful smile had quickly faded – and so had Gigi's.

She held up her hands to calm the terrified Ape Man. "It's alright, Tarzan. It's alright." Her hand went to her chest, feeling the strange heartbeat that he heard. Gigi sighed; apparently, she only _looked_ human on the outside; the inside was a whole different matter. "I'm sorry, Tarzan. I'm only _half_ of what you hoped me to be."

Hearing her mention his name twice, Tarzan grew more suspicious of her. "How do you know my name?"

Gigi chuckled. "You won't believe me…well, maybe you will. But I used to be part of your ape family a long time ago. I was different from the other apes because of my name."

"W-What was your name?"

"Joanie."

Tarzan tried to think back to his past when he met an ape that went by such an unusual name; he looked deeply into Gigi's eyes and experienced a sudden flashback to a time when he was just a child, having met a young female ape that saved him, Terk, and Tantor from a group of stampeding rhinos. He recalled a trick she had done that was unlike anything Tarzan had seen before that calmed the _entire_ group of rhinos. Ever since then, Tarzan had been impressed with that young female ape and her strange name and ability to calm wild animals without excessive force. After experiencing this flashback, Tarzan still had difficulty recognizing Gigi as that ape. "It can't be," he said. "How _could_ it have been you?"

"I have…_gifts_…that make me capable of doing things – being anything that I want to be." Gigi explained, even though she worried whether Tarzan understood _any_ of it.

"You're…a demon?"

Then again…maybe he _slightly_ did.

"Well, I wouldn't say a 'demon' exactly. More along the lines of a sorceress."

Tarzan's eyes squinted with confusion. "What's a sorceress?"

Gigi sighed from mental exhaustion; it was all really too much to explain for a man who was raised by apes in a jungle, and she did not have very much time to dedicate to it. She stood back up, grabbing her hat from the ground while doing so and placing it back on her head. Due to the rough way in which Tarzan handled the hat, it appeared lopsided on Gigi's head; she only hoped that its rumpled state did not affect her use of magic.

"I promise that I'll explain it all later once I used my powers to heal someone close to me." Gigi assured the Ape Man.

"Who's that?"

Before Gigi could have answered, the loud, terrified shriek of a woman sounded near their location. Gigi already knew that the screams belonged to Jane, but she was puzzled on why she came back into the jungle when she should have been with her father to help treat Sean's injuries. Knowing immediately that danger was happening near, Tarzan leaped back into the trees faster than Gigi blinked. With him gone to rescue Jane, she rushed back to perform her own rescue for Sean at the campsite.

* * *

"I'm…I'm…sorry…sorry…I'm sorry…s-sorry…sorry…"

Archimedes applied a cold, wet compress over Sean's forehead, which was sweating profusely from the heavy fever he was suddenly developing. After instructing Clayton to head into the jungle to find a special plant that would help the young man's injuries while he commenced with the surgery, Archimedes expected to get some assistance from Jane; but his daughter appeared to have disappeared shortly after he sent Clayton away, leaving him to care for Sean all on his own. Neither Jane nor Clayton had returned to camp anytime soon, which made Archimedes wonder how long Sean would last. Judging from the way Sean was losing his color and sweating heavily, there was _not_ very much time left for him.

All of the sudden Archimedes spotted a flash of light from the corner of his eye, inciting him to turn to his left and look out of the tent to see what it was. At first he believed it to have been a flash of lightning, but he heard no _boom_ following, even though there _was _a storm on the approach from the dark grey clouds forming in the sky. Suddenly he saw Gigi appeared from out of nowhere in front of him, wearing an odd-looking hat that surprised and confused Archimedes. "W-What? Where have you been? What is that on your head?"

Gigi did not bother giving any explanations to Archimedes, due to being too focused on saving Sean's life. Taking Archimedes' place at his side, Gigi placed both of her hands over Sean's gunshot wound, which caused him to wince and moan in pain. "I know it hurts, hon. I'm sorry. I'm _so_ sorry," she whispered to him before closing her eyes and focusing.

Archimedes looked on curiously as Gigi kept her hands over Sean's wound for a few minutes; and then the extraordinary happened. The designs on the peculiar hat that Gigi wore started to glow. A gust of wind blew into the tent, blowing out the flame that lit the lantern near Sean. With their only light source extinguished, Gigi's glowing hat was the one thing left illuminating the darkened atmosphere. Soon it was not just her hat that glowed but her hands as well, shining over Sean's wound. Clearly whatever Gigi was doing to him had a great affect from the way he moaned in agony.

Porter was nearly encouraged to interfere in the supernatural healing ritual, but he was too paralyzed with amazement to do anything but watch. After minutes of healing, the glow from Gigi's hat and hands softly dispersed and the flame from the lantern reignited seemingly on its own, irradiating the tent once more. Gigi opened her eyes and removed her blood-soaked hands from the right side of Sean's torso. Archimedes was shocked to discover how Sean's gunshot wound had completely vanished; all that remained was the very skin that was once ripped apart from Clayton's rifle. He also noticed that the young man's fever had disappeared as well, allowing Sean to regain his normal senses and see how Gigi was sitting beside him, looking at him with teary eyes and a big smile.

"Sorry I pointed a gun at you," he dryly said.

His words made Gigi chuckle hysterically as she leaned over to kiss his sweat-drenched forehead and lightly rest her head over it, relieved to see him back to his old, witty self.


	11. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten: Project Geo Base – 2012**

When Ciciley found her old locker, she was thankful that it remained untouched by any "greens" (the new age agents who replaced most of the old ones at the base, herself included). She blew off the dust from the rust-ridden copper door, which still bore her maiden name, "Valdez." Alone inside the locker room, she stripped off her civilian clothes and put on the decades-old S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform that was still perfectly folded inside the locker. Of course, putting it on proved to be a somewhat difficult task. Even though Ciciley managed to keep most of her in the same shape as she was before her retirement from S.H.I.E.L.D., the one area she could not control was the one that prevented her from getting her uniform on.

The standard S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform was a tight-fitting jumpsuit, although Ciciley could not understand why the women's edition was made to be practically skintight. For what felt like ten minutes, she tried to get the suit pass her protruding posterior – a product of old age, motherhood, and plain old genetics. Ciciley was grateful that no one was there to see her tugging and hopping to get her rear-end into the suit, but after fifteen minutes, she got the job done. Once the whole suit was on, she could see how she looked in the long mirror attached to the inside of her locker door. From the front, she looked much like the young agent back in the day; however, when she turned to look at the back…

"Dear Lord."

She sighed in despair of her aged body. _Not even Jenny Craig can save my butt_, she thought in sadness.

The women's locker room door could be heard opening and Ciciley hastily shut the locker door, focusing on getting her boots and gun belt on. Two young Caucasian women in similar skintight S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms walked right up to Ciciley; they were both blonde, but one was brown-eyed and a year older, standing six inches taller than the other, who was blue-eyed. Ciciley smiled in the direction of the younger, shorter blonde and said, "Elle, hey. Glad you could make it."

Elendriel was the product of Ciciley's first marriage. Born just a year before and on the same month as Sean, Elendriel was his half-sister. After her father was deported by S.H.I.E.L.D. for getting caught up in espionage, Ciciley kept her close and perpetually raised her to be the total opposite of what her father was, becoming one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most dedicated agents next to her brother. To that very day, Elendriel had yet to find out about her father's betrayal; and, as far as Ciciley was concerned, she never would.

"Who's the green?" Ciciley inquired, nodding towards Elendriel's companion.

_Gee, Moms, I'm doing great. Thanks for asking._

It was what she wanted to say in reaction to her mother's negligence for checking on her well-being. After all, she and her partner were called out of an assignment in Peru because of her mother. Naturally, Elendriel settled on _not_ upsetting her mother with sarcasm, due to the crucial nature of their meeting in one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most tight-lipped secret bases. She introduced her partner to Ciciley: "This is Samantha Solus. I call her 'Sammi' for short. She was assigned to me just a few months ago."

Sammi stepped forward and stuck out her hand to Ciciley. "It's a pleasure meeting you, Mrs. Livingston. I've heard a lot of awesome things about you."

Ciciley scoffed at the rookie's offered hand, opting not to shake it as she finished strapping on her gun belt. "You've never fired a gun your whole life, have ya, greenie? Young hands, you got. Young and still well-pedicured."

Sammi drew back her hand, keeping it behind her back with the other. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"What've _you _got to be sorry about, greenie?" Ciciley asked, grinning. She was clearly enjoying the mental torture. "Clearly, no one in this organization has kicked your butt yet, have they?" Sammi shook her head. "How the hell did you even get authorized without proper experience?"

Elendriel was getting impatient. "Can we _please_ get back to why we're here?"

Ciciley kept glaring at Solus while bringing the women up to speed. "Tony Stark's gone M.I.A., so the all-powerful Nick Fury sent in your brother, Captain America, and Bruce Banner in after him."

"Sent them in where?" Elendriel asked.

"Another universe, Elle." Ciciley explained. "The technology that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been keeping wraps on here is one big tesseract."

Sammi hesitated in speaking out. "But it's a s-sphere…m-ma'am."

Ciciley could burn a hole into Solus, obviously aggravated with the unnecessary correction in geometrics the young agent gave. Quickly bringing focus back on the topic at hand before Sammi got her first butt-kicking at the hands of her hard-nosed mother, Elendriel said, "So…the sphere is another gateway? How do we know another Loki won't come out from the other side and unleash hell on us all over again?"

Her mother was momentarily silent. "I think it already has, Elle."

**Realm D1999**

Gigi was quickly reminded why she never publicly used her abilities back when she was still known as "Joanie" as Archimedes Porter continuously questioned her about the way she healed Sean. At first these questions started as the usual "How did you do that?" and "What are you?" But they gradually became centered on turning Gigi into a guinea pig as Archimedes then asked "Would you be willing to take part in biological research?" By that point, she was ready to leave that world with Sean, who already had enough time to recover from the healing process.

When Clayton returned from his journey into the jungle to retrieve the plant (a mission that was met with failure, considering he was not very keen on plants in general), he returned to the campsite to find Sean back on his feet and the gunshot wound completely gone from his body. Shocked and bewildered, Clayton whispered to himself, "What the devil?" He saw Archimedes and Gigi close nearby and had taken notice of the bizarre hat that Gigi was wearing, wondering where on earth it had come from.

After nearly ten whole minutes of questions, Gigi was about ready to throw some harsh words at Archimedes – something that would have gone entirely against her title as "Guardian of the Disneyverse." That was until Sean, her knight in shining armor, stepped in and told Porter, "Hey, hey. I need a moment alone with my friend. Do you mind?"

Still taken aback from Sean's astounding recovery at the hands of the sorceress, Porter acknowledged his request. "Oh, oh, yes. Of course, my boy. Of course." He then moved away from them and noticed Clayton nearby, immediately going to the gorilla hunter and alerting him of the phenomenon.

"Thanks, hon," said the extremely grateful sorceress.

"Hey, anything you want. You saved my life." She could see the tears in his eyes as he addressed her. "You didn't have to do that."

Gigi frowned in surprise. "Of course I did."

"Yeah, I know you _had_ to, but you didn't." He sighed as a tear had fallen from one eye. "I…I could've died. I wouldn't have been able to tell my mother or my sister how much I loved them…how much I was going to miss them." He swallowed hard, trying to focus on the words to tell her. "I treated you so poorly during this mission. Hell, I pulled a gun on you! And you…you save my life like you did and…I don't even know where to begin in…"

She was touched by his change of heart, her own tears welling up in her eyes. It was the first sign of expression from him that was reminiscent of the son she left behind in her own world. Seeing him struggle to find the words to say, she softly shushed him and placed a warm, loving hand upon the left side of his face. "It's alright, hon. It's like a wise warthog and meerkat once told me – hakuna matata."

Sean smiled, yet her subtle reference reminded him of their mission. Wiping away his tears, he quickly went back to business. "Right. So…we gotta find Cap, Stark, and Doctor Banner."

Just as much as Sean was all business, so was Gigi. "The only thing _we_ are doing next is taking you back to base."

"What?"

"You heard me, young man. You were almost killed. I'm not risking your life again like that." Her motherly tone was evident in the way she made that declaration. _Man, does it feel good to talk that way again!_

"But I'm totally okay! You returned me back to perfect health, remember?" He showed her the spot where his gunshot wound once was. "This was seconds away from being a nasty infection. Now it's like new! Even the birthmark that was once there is gone!"

Gigi raised a curious eyebrow. "There was a birthmark?"

"Look, just let me come with you in finding Cap, Banner, and Stark."

She shook her head negatively, closing her eyes. "No can do, hon. You're going back _now_."

"But I…"

He stopped protesting as soon as she reopened her eyes and saw the ghostly white glow in them, which basically signified that she had the last say on the matter. A disgruntled Sean sighed and waited for the campsite around them to switch into the Project Geo Base. As he waited for the transference to take place, he suddenly saw Clayton come up to Gigi from behind and place a hand on her shoulder.

"We demand some ans—"

The golden flash of light and atomization process commenced before Clayton ever had a chance to finish the last word. Archimedes witnessed the event, believing to have seen all of Gigi's magnificent abilities, and was left just as astounded when Gigi, Sean, and even Clayton had vanished from sight once the light dispersed. "Good heavens," he whispered to himself.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven: Realm D1995**

Pocahontas took Rogers downriver to an area secluded by the ancient weeping willow tree that towered over with many woodland creatures moving around its branches. A sensation of serenity came over Steve as he walked along the large, wide roots of the willow tree and sat upon a stump with Pocahontas. "This is great. And you come here often?" Rogers asked her.

"Yes," replied Pocahontas, who could not take her eyes off of Steve. "I come here to talk to Grandmother Willow."

Rogers saw her gesture to the willow tree, and he was a bit baffled. "Um…your grandmother is a…tree?"

Pocahontas playfully smiled. "Look closely."

He did as she suggested and gazed closely into one section of the tree that strongly resembled an elderly woman's face. Then, after a few seconds, an actual face did emerge from the tree to Rogers's immediate surprise. It was indeed the face of an elderly woman, and she even addressed him like one, "Hello, young man."

Rogers hardly knew what to say. "Uh…hi."

"Grandmother Willow, this is my new friend, Steve Rogers." Pocahontas introduced.

Grandmother Willow smiled warmly. "Come closer, Steve Rogers." As Rogers had done so, he felt a group of thin branches push him further up to the face of Grandmother Willow, who stared deep into his eyes. "Such a young face, but an _old_ spirit behind it." This observation fascinated even Grandmother Willow herself. "You're not from this land, Steve Rogers."

"I'm not," he confirmed out loud, even though it was visibly obvious. "I'm not even from this world. I came here by accident from the magic of this sorceress."

"I do sense magic in your presence – _strong_ magic." Grandmother Willow said.

"Is there a way you can find her – the sorceress, I mean?" Rogers asked.

Grandmother Willow intuitively considered the idea, taking a short moment to ponder it. "The magic that surrounds you is beyond my understanding, I'm afraid. But, like I once told Pocahontas's mother, the key is to listen."

"Listen to what?" Steve asked curiously.

"Listen to the spirits, child." Grandmother Willow said. "This world around you is filled with spirits. They live in the earth, the water, and the sky. Even the sorceress you speak of is a spirit herself. If you listen, she will guide you back to her."

Rogers accepted Grandmother Willow's advice and listened carefully. A cool breeze blew through the area, clashing with the leaves. He felt himself engulfed in an atmosphere of serenity and could have sworn he heard singing and whispering – amongst various other noises – all around him. Closing his eyes, he concentrated much harder on the voices whispering into his ears. Pocahontas looked on with interest and then noticed how a small collection of colorful leaves billowed around him, accompanied with flashes of golden sparks.

"What do you hear, Steve Rogers?" Grandmother Willow asked.

Steve smiled as he answered: "Everything."

In the midst of the soft singing and whispering, there abruptly came a loud, fierce (and familiar) roar that startled Rogers. He fell off his feet as if a powerful force knocked him down. Pocahontas and Grandmother Willow both grew concerned for him. "What's wrong?" Pocahontas questioned.

Rogers appeared intense. "The Hulk," he muttered.

His response confused the young native girl. "What?"

Fighting to regain composure of what he heard and even felt, Cap reiterated on his answer: "A friend of mine…he's…he's in trouble…_serious_ trouble." He then looked to Grandmother Willow again and said with great caution, "I need to get back to my world _now_."

"You have to _focus_, Steve Rogers. Think of the sorceress – her voice, her appearance, her scent – these senses will help guide you to her."

Time was of the essence for Rogers; he didn't have the patience for a spiritual journey. But he knew that if it was the key to finding Gigi and his fellow Avengers, then he would have to do as Grandmother Willow suggested. Shutting his eyes again, he focused hard on all of the senses he could recall from his brief time with Gigi. It was a difficult task with thoughts on what could have happened to Banner that led to another transformation – within another world of all places – running through his mind, but he did his very best for the sake of innocent lives.

**Project Geo Base – 2012**

Gigi instantly knew something was not right the moment she and Sean rematerialized back in the base, and it wasn't the hundreds of guns trained on her that clued her in. Several armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents greeted them by surrounding them with their various firearms. It was one thing to have a gun pointed at her by Sean, but it was an entirely different thing to have it happen with several of his fellow agents. Gigi slowly raised her hands in the air while trying to figure out what was going on. She soon received her answer as soon as she heard Maria Hill yell, "Drop your weapon and get down on the floor!"

_Weapon? I don't have any weapons on me…unless she's talking about my hat_, Gigi thought in confusion.

That was when she heard the sound of a gun drop to the concrete floor from behind her, and she turned to see a petrified John Clayton with his hands high in the air, exposing the sweat-stained armpits of his yellow safari shirt. "Clayton? What're you doing here?"

The gorilla hunter was too terrified to reply. Without a moment's notice, he was handcuffed by a blond female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent whose name was shortly revealed to Gigi as Nick Fury emerged from the surrounding group of agents and instructed, "Agent Stevens, take our 'guest' into one of the offices. We'll figure out what to do with him once we've gotten this mess sorted out."

Agent Stevens, who Gigi practically towered over, looked just as aggressive as she was attractive with piercing blue eyes that were quick to intimidate even a powerful sorceress like Gigi. She watched as Stevens led Clayton away as Fury ordered, and she felt relieved once she noticed all the agents holster their guns and return to their active duties, which confirmed that they were not for her. However, from the way Fury glared at her, she was still in trouble.

"Did I ask you to bring someone from the other side here?" The S.H.I.E.L.D. director rhetorically asked.

"I didn't realize he was transported with us!" Gigi innocently admitted. "I swear it was an accident!"

"And where's Banner, Cap, and Stark? Please do _not_ tell me they were lost, too."

Gigi could not bring herself to admit the truth, and she shortly realized that she didn't have to as they were suddenly interrupted by another female S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, one that was much older, shorter, and intimidating than Stevens. This one was a darker skin color – almost the same skin tone as Sean – and she even reminded Gigi of an older version of her (Joanie's) daughter, Ciciley. Of course, that notable similarity in skin tone just confirmed what Gigi suspected when Sean addressed the woman in surprise: "Moms? What're you doing here?"

Pointing to the woman that was marching their way, Gigi smiled and asked, "_She's_ your mother?"

"Yeah, I am." The woman viciously said. "And I'm also the woman who's gonna kick your big ol' butt!"

Without warning, a fist came directly across Gigi's face swiftly from the left, connecting with her eye. Although the blow took her by surprise, it didn't do enough damage to leave a bruise. That was until she received a brutal roundhouse kick that sent her to the cold concrete. Knees collided with ribs as Gigi's unanticipated opponent pinned her down and unleashed a series of left and right punches to her face. After two or three punches, a hint of Gigi's blood was stained on Ciciley's right hand.

Before the brutality could continue any further, Sean stepped in and pried his mother off of Gigi. Ciciley squirmed under the massive grip of her son, making things problematic for Sean. "Moms, chill out! What is your problem?"

As he fought to get her under control, Elendriel and Solus then entered the scene, seeing the battered Gigi squirm on the floor. Her once-flawless face was covered in cuts and bruises with blood seeping from her nose and the corners of her mouth and left eye. She struggled to get back on her feet, clutching her bruised ribs. Elendriel realized this woman was the "threat" that her mother spoke of, although she did not seem much of one from the insane ferocity that was unleashed on her just then.

With her mother out of sight, Elendriel allowed her sympathies for Gigi to take over. Turning to Sammi, who seemed highly perturbed by the state Gigi was in, she said, "Help me get this poor girl into the infirmary. I think my mother has finally cracked."


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve: Realm D1991**

It was late in the evening and most of the drinkers in Gaston's tavern went home to sleep off their drunkenness. Alone and sitting at one corner of the tavern, Gaston and LeFou waited for Monsieur D'Arque, the owner of the village's local asylum, to strike a deal with him. Earlier that wintery evening, Maurice stormed in to warn the villagers about a monstrous "beast" that had Belle locked up in a castle. Of course, no one in the tavern believed a word of it and threw Maurice out on Gaston's word, but the incident did give Gaston an idea. He would use the "beast story" as a way of pressuring Belle into marrying him by threatening to throw her father into the asylum, hence why he needed D'Arque to show up at the tavern late that evening.

The deal would be made with only Gaston, LeFou, and D'Arque present in the tavern, so that none of the other villagers would find out and possibly wreck Gaston's reputation as the town hero. The only thing Gaston would tell them was how Maurice was insane – something most everyone already knew from the time he spent secluded in his home, making inventions as wacky as himself – and needed to be committed. It was such a genius plan that Gaston and LeFou just had to celebrate it with a few rounds of beers as they waited for D'Arque to come.

However, the two men waited for what seemed like an hour longer than what it needed to be. Beer mugs littered the table – most of them emptied by LeFou, who was becoming drunk. "What is taking that old fool so long? He should've been here minutes ago," said an impatient Gaston, who glanced over at the cuckoo clock that hung on the wall near him and LeFou.

"He'll be here, Gaston." LeFou assured through his slurred speech. "Don't worry about it."

"I'm not worried, you fool." He angrily bonked LeFou on the head for the statement. "I just want to get this dealt with as soon as possible. The sooner we put our plan into action, the sooner I can have Belle as my wife."

"You wanna have a wife, my friend. You'll have to try a lot harder than blackmail."

Gaston and LeFou looked to the adjacent corner, finding a tall, slender mustachioed man with a top hat sitting at a table with his feet rested upon it. "Tavern's closed, stranger!" Gaston shouted. "Get out of here!"

"You won't want me to leave so soon after you hear my proposition." The man remarked.

"We already have a deal waiting with Monsieur D'Arque." Gaston said.

A devilish grin crept across the man's face. "Monsieur D'Arque won't be joining us this evening…I _personally _made sure of that."

Hearing this, Gaston grew suspicious of the visitor. "What…What do you want?"

"It's not what _I_ want, Gaston. It's about what _you_ want."

Gaston wondered how the stranger knew his name, but he reminded himself that he was _Gaston_ after all – everyone in town knew his name. Then again, he had not seen this man in town ever before, which only intensified his suspicions. "_You_ can get me Belle, stranger?"

"The name's Doctor Facilier. And I can get you more than just one woman. I can get you everything beyond your wildest dreams."

"I dunno. Gaston's dreams are pretty wild." LeFou said with a chuckle, only to be bonked again by Gaston.

"I already have everything I want, stranger. The only thing that I desire is Belle. And if _you_ can get her for me, then I'm willing to make whatever deals you see fit."

Facilier smiled. "Y'all gonna love what _I'm_ planning. First off, there's one important thing you should know – the old man, your woman's father, wasn't lying about the beast. It's _real_."

LeFou immediately bellowed with drunken laughter. "Wow, Gaston! You really snatched another loon! This guy's as crazy as Maurice! Maybe we should have _him_ thrown into the bin!"

Gaston didn't find Facilier's claim as amusing as LeFou; he felt like he was being made a fool of, which did _not_ sit well with him. Getting up from the table, he rushed himself over to Facilier's table and grabbed the bizarrely-dressed man by the collar. Gaston yanked Facilier away from the table and brought them face-to-face with each other with one fist raised high, readied to strike Facilier. "You're going to tell me what you did with D'Arque, or I'll…"

Gaston stopped as soon as he felt the floor beneath him quake; he heard bottles at the bar cling together and tables with wobbly legs rattle. He could also hear LeFou start to take rapid breathes induced with panic. Looking to him, Gaston could see his eyes widening with fear as he looked to something that was away from him and Facilier. Gaston followed his gaze and suddenly spotted the subject of LeFou's panic. Standing well over seven feet tall and shadowing both Gaston and Facilier was a _hulking_ green man. He was shirtless, exposing muscles that were far greater in mass than Gaston's, and he was shoeless, revealing his massive feet. The only article of clothing he bore was a pair of beige pants that barely fit his large form, ripped at the knees and waistline.

Gaston looked upon the towering green behemoth with his mouth gaping open and eyes that were flooded with as much fear as LeFou. He was in such shock that he barely heard Facilier tell him, "If ya know what's good for ya, you'll listen to what I have to say, _Monsieur_ Gaston. Otherwise, my 'friend' and I will turn your dreams into nightmares. Understand?"

Slowly, Gaston nodded.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen: Project Geo Base – 2012**

Ciciley slightly winced as her son cleansed the blood from her hand. She sat on the bed inside her old quarters while he knelt in front of her. As he cleaned the blood off with a wet hand towel, Sean discovered a deep gash between Ciciley's knuckles. Some of Gigi's blood got mixed in the amount that was seeping from his mother's wound, meaning that he had been cleaning both women's blood off. Watching the wound bleed more after cleaning it, Sean shook his head and said, "What were you thinking attacking Gigi like that?"

"I was thinking that I needed to protect my son from an extraterrestrial threat."

"I didn't need protection. And Gigi's _not_ a threat."

"And how are you so sure about that?"

"Because…" He sighed, knowing that what he was about to say next would undoubtedly cause his mother to overreact, "I got shot while I was with her, and—"

"I KNEW IT!"

"She healed me! Before I was on death's door, she used her magic abilities to remove my wound! It was incredible, Moms! It was like in _The Last Crusade_ when Indiana Jones healed his dad by pouring that water on his wound and washing it away right off his skin!"

"So this woman's like a walking Holy Grail, eh?"

Her tone oozed with sarcasm, aggravating Sean only further. Moving to the door, which slid open automatically as he neared it, he took one last look at her and thought about saying something to counteract her sarcastic comment. He realized that there was no convincing her of anything; everything _she_ believed was the truth and everything that everyone else believed was garbage. All he said to her before leaving was, "I'll be right back with something to stitch you up."

He left his mother all alone in the deathly quiet four-walled room, which was so closed in that there was hardly any acoustics – it was more of a prison cell than living quarters, and Ciciley liked it that way. Waiting for him to return was certain to be chore for her, because she was anything but a patient woman. She glanced at the gash between her knuckles and scoffed at it. _I don't know why he's going to bother with stitches – it's nowhere near serious_, she thought.

As she kept her eyes on the gash, she noticed something unthinkable happening to it. The gash began to close itself – stitching itself all on its own without the requirements of a needle and thread. She watched that small portion of her epidermis reconstruct itself with a fresh layer of skin, stopping the bleeding. After mere seconds, Ciciley's gash had vanished, leaving only a small trace of her blood that she wiped away with the thumb from her other hand. Touching the spot where the wound once was didn't even cause any pain; it was _completely_ healed.

Tempted to rush out of her quarters and alert her son of the phenomenon, Ciciley stood up from the bed and moved towards the door. Just as she was about to go near it, she suddenly felt a shooting pain in her healed hand, as well as her wrist. Looking at the back of her hand, her eyes widened in alarm as she saw her veins _glowing_. She could _feel_ the glow spread past her wrist, up her arm, over her shoulder and neck, and then course through every fraction of her head, including her eyes, which suddenly glowed themselves. It spread all throughout her body until she could feel the odd sensation overtake it, causing her to collapse back onto her bed and writhe in pain. She tried to scream so that someone could hear her, but even that seemed impossible with the strange occurrence she was undergoing.

* * *

Sean initially went inside the infirmary to find the medical tools necessary for stitching his mother's wound, but he thought about going in to see if Gigi was alright. After the savage beating she took from Ciciley, he felt extremely concerned for the woman who saved his life and was morally obligated to check on her. He found Elendriel and Sammi standing by the bed that the two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents laid her on. Sammi was cleaning the blood from Gigi's face, being extra careful in doing so. Seeing the condition of Gigi's once-gorgeous face, Sean felt angry with Ciciley for being the cause of it; he knew Gigi had to be in intense pain.

Elendriel heard him enter and looked to him with a warm smile. "Good seein' ya again, lil' brother," she said, welcoming him with a hug. "Wish our little reunion could've been under better circumstances."

"Same here." After the embrace, he joined Sammi over by the still-unconscious Gigi. "Is she going to be alright?"

Sammi looked to him with uncertainty and even a hint of sadness. "She took a horrible beating from your mother. She's got multiple contusions, her nose and ribs are broken, and she's even missing a few teeth." She shook her head and added, "I don't think she'll ever look the same aga—"

She stopped once she saw what Elendriel and Sean did as well when they all looked upon Gigi again. Sections of her face began to contort as the bruises on it rapidly subsided and disappeared. They heard a sickening _crunch_ when her nose and ribs straightened themselves. Beyond her lips, a new set of teeth had grown in her mouth like a child's after losing baby teeth. All signs of injuries had been vanquished from whatever healing capabilities Gigi had, and she returned to a full, healthy state.

Free from swelling, Gigi's eyes slowly opened; they readjusted after her vision was momentarily blurred, and she finally saw Sean, Elendriel, and Sammi. She sat up on her bed, looked around the infirmary, and told the three agents before her, "I have to go."

Her sudden notice surprised Sean, Sammi, and Elendriel. "W-What? You have to go? Go where?" Sean asked.

"Back into the Disneyverse." Gigi said, removing herself from the infirmary bed. She reached up and touched the top of her head, lightly patting it to discover what was missing. "Where's my hat?" Sammi went to a nearby counter where the mystical head covering was set, retrieving it for the sorceress. As soon as Gigi took it from Sammi, she put it on.

"How did you heal yourself like that?" Elendriel questioned. "That was…impressive."

"She was genetically enhanced by magic." Sammi stated.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent's strongly accurate deduction astounded Gigi. "Yeah. That's _exactly_ right. How did you guess?"

All eyes fell on Sammi, who seemed a bit sheepish over her statement. "It just seemed pretty obvious…with you being a sorceress and all."

Although her response didn't fully convince anyone in that room, Gigi nevertheless returned her focus back on her task. "Anyway, I have to go back in to get Captain America and Tony Stark. They're still trapped, and I'm the only one who can return them here."

"I'll go with you then." Sean offered.

Gigi shook her head. "No. The butt-whoopin' your mama gave me was enough to convince me that you should stay here."

Sean sighed. "I'm real sorry about her."

"It's O.K. I would've done the same thing." Gigi said with a smile.

"The _exact_ same thing?" Elendriel inquisitively asked.

Taking a moment to consider the context, Gigi replied, "Okay, maybe not the _exact_ same thing…but I get why she did it. She wouldn't be a good mother if she _didn't_ do what she did."

"You don't know her." Sean said. "Working for S.H.I.E.L.D. has done more harm than good to her. It's hardened her." Elendriel nodded in agreement with her brother's opinions.

"She's still a good woman – she just doesn't show it." Gigi indicated.

"And how are you so sure about that?" Sean questioned her observation.

Gigi didn't respond. Instead, she smiled and activated her teleportation spell, which was evident from the whiteness that shadowed her multi-colored eyes, and she vanished from the room. Elendriel, witnessing the sorceress's magic up close for the first time, jumped in surprise. "Whoa."

* * *

Gigi's words ran through Sean's mind as he returned to his mother's quarters with a tray of medical supplies to help stitch her wound. He wished that he got a straight answer from the sorceress before she vanished, and he anticipated on getting one when she returned with Cap and Stark. Doing his best to drop the subject from his mind upon entering Ciciley's quarters, he found his mother standing at the sink near her bed with her back facing him. He called out to her while walking in to let her know he had arrived, but she didn't turn to face him.

Growing frustrated, he said, "C'mon, Moms. Don't have time to play around. Let's get you stitched up and back home."

Again, she didn't turn to face him. Curiosity took over frustration as he noticed something different about her. She looked a lot slimmer from behind, her stretched-out uniform hanging off her small frame. He knew it was impossible for her to look so thin after he saw how thick she was just minutes ago. Once more, he called to her, sounding less demanding and more concerned for her well-being.

Finally, she turned around and he discovered something that made him drop the tray, causing it to land on the hard floor with a loud _clang_. Ciciley, his mother, appeared thirty-five years younger – practically the same age as him. The wrinkles on her face were completely gone, exposing a more flawless and tanned skin. The grayness in her hair disappeared as well, leaving it totally raven-colored. Her body type was definitely much slimmer and followed with her de-aged appearance; her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform looked baggy, due to the previous body type it contained.

Sean was speechless as he stood and looked upon the young woman who was his mother. After minutes of awkward silence between them, Ciciley finally managed to say in total shock, "I'm…I'm…a greenie again!"


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen: Realm D1991**

Facilier grinned as he stood within the cold, grim forest and looked on in the distance at the Beast's castle. Every inch of the castle was consumed in flames, blazing in the night atmosphere. Chunks of its once-majestic structure crumbled to the ground. To any sane person, it would have been a sight of pure horror; but Facilier managed to find sadistic pleasure in watching the castle collapse into ruins, knowing there were people – albeit in the form of furnishings – inside. The Hulk, Gaston, LeFou, and the gang of "tough guys" Gaston had gathered from his village had done their work. The Beast was dead – slain by the hands of the mighty hunter who was Gaston.

And Gaston's prize for his "valiant" deed was the lovely Belle.

She struggled to get free from Gaston as he gripped her wrist. Facilier could hear her shouting at him while Gaston and his men returned to the forest, rendezvousing with Facilier. Not a single scratch was laid on Gaston or his men, which meant that they all had an excellent advantage with the monstrous Hulk by their side. Facilier applauded upon the mob's return and said, "_Marvelous_ work, gentlemen!" He particularly asked Gaston, "How does it feel winning your prize?"

Gaston smirked at the struggling Belle. "It feels…victorious."

"You killed him, Gaston!" Belle yelled, tears flowing from her eyes. "You killed the Beast!"

"I did it to _save_ you, Belle." Gaston said. "You no longer have to fear of being trapped inside that castle."

"He was changing. He wasn't what I thought he was when I first saw him. He…He saved my life. He was my friend."

Listening to her, Gaston grew shocked and disgusted. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you had _feelings_ for this monster."

"He's not the monster, Gaston. _You_ are!" Belle retorted.

This claim of hers angered Gaston. He looked to Facilier and yelled, "She's as crazy as her father! This is not the reward you promised me!"

Facilier remained positive. "Relax, Gaston. Consider this the first part of your reward. We'll get this girl to see reason soon. I have ways of _persuading_ her in seein' the light before the darkness."

Belle took notice in the presence of Facilier for the first time in their arrival. There was eeriness to this stranger – much about him made Belle feel uncomfortable. Noting how connected he and Gaston were, Belle asked, "Gaston…w-who is this man? Where did he come from?"

"In a few seconds, it won't matter."

An outside party spoke out loud enough for her voice to echo throughout the area. All eyes turned in the direction that the woman had spoken from, only able to spot her presence from the light provided by the inferno behind them. The woman stood upon a tree branch. She had long blond hair, green eyes, and tanned skin and wore a white t-shirt, black leggings, and black tennis shoes beneath an open red overcoat. She leaned against the tree with her arms folded, looking down at the audience of men and one woman (Belle) as they all stared up at her.

Whereas Gaston and his men were startled by the mysterious woman's sudden presence, Facilier appeared expectant of it. "I must say…I was hoping one of Yen Sid's disciples would take notice in my dirty work. Unfortunately, you weren't the one I was expectin'."

"The name's Sheryl," said the woman, "and you've created a list of serious violations, Facilier – more than a certain _Evil Queen_ who tried to do what you're doing right now."

"So I've noticed, Miss Sheryl." Facilier remarked. "She's the reason I'm doing all of this. I want to finish where she left off. And my _friends_ are helping me succeed where she failed."

Sheryl shook her head. "Not gonna happen."

Her form unexpectedly shifted from the tree branch to the base of the tree, briefly appearing in the form of purple mist as she displayed this power of teleportation that undoubtedly sparked fear in Gaston and his men. "Witchcraft," shouted Gaston, who shoved Belle into the hands of LeFou to retrieve his bow and arrow – the same weapon of choice he slayed the Beast with.

Gaston fired one shot that connected directly with Sheryl's torso – or so he thought. As soon as the arrow reached her body, it then _phased_ right through it, striking the base of the tree instead. Gaston and the others, excluding Facilier, looked upon Sheryl in shock as the woman remained untouched from the attack. She looked down at her white shirt, smiling over the lack of damage to her clothes and body.

Gazing back up at the bewildered and surprised Gaston, she said in sarcasm, "Ooh, Gaston! That was _nowhere_ near close, dude! Tell you what – I'll give you another try. This time you can aim for my back." She turned with her back facing Gaston and her arms outstretched for emphasis, but Gaston didn't make a move. "The back's not challenging enough for you? Then how about the booty?" She parted the lower half of her overcoat to expose her derriere – her leggings outlined it, making the fact that she was mockingly flexing it more obvious. "C'mon! If it helps, pretend my cheeks are apples."

Facilier could have allowed Gaston's embarrassment to have gone on for minutes, but his busy schedule prevented him from doing so. While Sheryl continued to mock the baffled Gaston, who appeared as if he was going to take another shot at her, Facilier lifted one hand and snapped his fingers. A loud, unearthly roar was then heard in the direction of the inferno. Sheryl's ears perked on the noise and aborted her banter long enough to brace herself from what was to come. She knew the creature behind the inhuman sound and glared at Facilier for bringing it to the world.

"Regardless of what you might think, there's _one_ person who won't let you get away with your master plan." Sheryl told him.

Facilier grinned. "I know. And I look forward to the moment I get to meet your dear mama."

Sheryl felt the ground beneath her feet vibrate; a shadow loomed over her. She found herself staring upon the Hulk, who roared right in her face – his hot breath blowing past her and strands of saliva coming in contact with her face and clothes. The green behemoth succeeded in intimidating her, but she didn't let that fact be shown in front of Facilier and his gang of thugs. Unfortunately, her façade didn't hold up for very long once the Hulk raised one giant fist into the air, causing Sheryl to flinch and fall backwards to the ground. She heard Facilier, Gaston, and the other men laugh over her cowardice while she saw the Hulk's green fist speeding towards her.

That fist was the last thing she had seen before shutting her eyes and bracing herself for a powerful blow to her body. However, after a few seconds, she felt nothing. She hadn't "switched on" her phasing ability, which required a lot of concentration – something she didn't have while facing the monstrous Hulk. All was quiet, which made her even more curious. Slowly, she reopened her eyes and found not the Hulk standing over her cowering form, but a slender, half bald elderly man with a long gray beard to match what hair he _did_ have, including his thick eyebrows.

"Yen Sid?" Sheryl uttered the name of the recognizable figure before her.

The master sorcerer seemed frustrated with her. "You weren't ready."

Quickly, Sheryl got to her feet and stood at her full five-foot, ten-inch height, which almost matched with Yen Sid's six-foot frame. "I had them! I just got cocky, that's all. First time back in the Disneyverse as a guardian."

"You were scared." Yen Sid contradicted. "You quivered in the face of your adversary, which is why I had to extract you from that world as a necessity."

Sheryl shook her head in disgrace. Her eyes darted around Yen Sid's private chambers until her eyes locked in on someone in one corner of the room – gagged, handcuffed, tied by the ankles, and unconscious. She recognized the figure as John Clayton, the antagonist from _Tarzan_. Surprised, she pointed to Clayton and began to ask, "Is that…?"

"He was accidentally brought into the world where Mickey is now."

"Brought by whom?"

Yen Sid remained stone-faced as he responded: "Your mother."

Sheryl's eyes grew wide; a smile emerged on her face. "Y-You found her?"

"It was not easy to do. She's a completely different entity now. Her magic has grown stronger than before. The moment I felt her presence in the world she was resurrected into, I just had to make sure. That is why Mickey and I infiltrated the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, taking the forms of Agents Samantha Solus and Lisa Stevens."

"Because you couldn't risk anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. recognizing you guys. Poor Mickey is still there, upholding _his_ disguise."

"And with the threat of Doctor Facilier looming, I'm afraid he will have to maintain that guise longer than intended – the same applies for me. The Disneyverse and every other realm are all in grave danger as we speak."

"Then let me help." Sheryl pleaded. "Look, I might've almost gotten my butt pummeled by the Hulk back there, but at least give me the chance to see my mother again. She's the reason why I'm here now in _this_ body. Those magical genes of her were passed down to me and me only. I'm even starting to remember events from another life I had – one where I was killed saving my grandmother. You said it yourself…getting her powers _wasn't_ a mistake."

Yen Sid regarded her speech, especially its closing remark. "Fine," he said with a heavy sigh. "But she's no longer in the Project Geo Base. She has returned within the Disneyverse to retrieve Captain America and the 'Iron Man,' Tony Stark." He led Sheryl out of his private chambers, heading into the courtyard where the well, filled to its rim with clear water, was located. Yen Sid stuck one finger in the water and swirled it, creating a ripple effect on the surface until the water glowed and an image was projected. "You will find her in Pocahontas's world."

Sheryl looked upon the image in the water, seeing a young woman dressed in a red robe and wearing Yen Sid's signature hat emerging in a section of the forest within the _Pocahontas_ world. Sheryl frowned; this woman did not _look_ like the mother she once knew. Of course, she trusted both Yen Sid's judgment and the fact that the woman bore his hat and the apprentice robes enough to realize that the woman was in fact her mother. The woman, once known as Joanie Navarro-Thomas, had gained a whole new appearance – just like the case with Sheryl.

Accepting the information, Sheryl nodded to Yen Sid and said, "Thank you, Master Yen Sid."

The master sorcerer appeared surprised from her response. "That is the first time you've called me 'master,' Sheryl."

She smiled. "Yeah…just wish I could be called by my proper name again."

Realizing her despair, Yen Sid placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "No matter what new face you take on in reincarnation, you can always remember the person you once were…_Sean Thomas_."

"Thanks, _Master_."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen: Realm D1995**

Gigi went into the _Pocahontas_ realm with blind confidence; she had no idea where Steve Rogers was exactly. Sensing others' presence in the Disneyverse was one thing, but pinpointing their location was an entirely different task – one that required much more training from Yen Sid. Thinking about her master as she trekked through the forest within the realm, she wished that he was there to help her with the current mess that she had gotten herself into. The re-emergence of the Sphere had become a recurring nightmare for her – one that could not have come at a worst time. There was something unsettling that she was detecting in the Disneyverse; a force of evil that she hadn't felt since the Evil Queen. Something happened to Bruce Banner, and the evil force she detected had a connection to it.

Halfway through her journey in the forest, she heard a loud splash from her left. Turning her head in the direction, she found someone fighting to keep their head above the surface while maintaining control over their swimming. Gigi abandoned her initial mission and rushed to the rescue of the swimmer in peril. While running to the river's edge, she quickly removed her sorcerer hat and robe, throwing both down on the ground, and dove into the water. Once she got close enough to swimmer, she discovered that it was a woman with blond hair, green eyes, and tanned skin and wearing a red overcoat, which might've been the source of her swimming trouble.

"Hold on. You're gonna be okay. I gotcha." Gigi assured her as she got a hold of the woman and swam back to shore with her.

As soon as both women reached the shore, they took a moment to catch their breath. Gigi sat beside the woman and noticed how tall she appeared even while lying down. Her feet were still in the water while the rest of her was sprawled out on the shore to dry. Judging from her attire, Gigi figured that she was not of that world, which led her to ask…

"Where did you come from?"

The woman turned her side, spitting out the bits of water from her mouth and letting it hit the dirt beneath her. "My name's Sheryl. I come from the same world as Master Yen Sid – the one you call 'Fantasia.'"

Gigi smiled; after having just thought about getting help from Yen Sid, she was delighted to have someone from the same world as him there to help. "He sent you? Does that mean he knows about the trouble growing in the Disneyverse?"

Sheryl nodded with a grin. "Oh, he knows, alright. He's back at the Project Geo Base as we speak."

That news surprised Gigi. "W…Wait. You mean he was there with me the entire time?" Even though it was welcoming news, Gigi was slightly perturbed by it. "Why didn't he show himself? Was he even there when I got beat down by Ciciley Livingston?"

"That's not what's really important right now." Sheryl said.

"No, it _is_ important!" Gigi angrily exclaimed. "For the past hours, I've been scared that I was _completely_ alone in this. The Sphere's still in existence and I died, losing my life, my family, and my identity. I don't even know who I am anymore!"

"You are the Guardian of the Disneyverse." Sheryl reminded her.

Gigi shook her head. "No…I'm Joanie Navarro-Thomas…or I'm _supposed_ to be."

"You're not the only one who has lost their original identity. I wasn't born like…this." Sheryl gestured to herself as she uttered the word "this."

"Oh, really? And who did _you_ use to be?"

Sheryl seemed all too ready to answer, but she stopped herself before the words escaped from her mouth. She just was not ready to tell Gigi that she used to be Sean Thomas – her (Joanie's) son in a new, reincarnated body also. There were already enough surprises in the conversation with Yen Sid having been revealed to be back at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base; she hadn't even told her about Mickey being there as well.

"Look, like I said, that's not what's important right now. You're here to look for…"

"Steve?"

"Well, I was going to call him 'Cap' or 'Captain America,' but…"

She noticed Gigi stand up and looked away from her. Following her gaze, she discovered Steve Rogers himself standing near the shore with Pocahontas by his side. He was donned fully in his Captain America apparel and also wore a huge grin on his face. "It worked," he happily exclaimed while looking upon Gigi. "You're here!"

Gigi immediately ran up and embraced him. "I'm so glad you're alright."

Her embrace took Rogers by surprise. "Didn't know we've grown so close in such a short time, Gigi."

"Let's just say after what I've been through, finding you is more than a sight for sore eyes. I _heard_ you…calling out to me. Grandmother Willow is quite the teacher, isn't she?"

Gigi's spot-on observation baffled Pocahontas. "How did you know…?"

"I'm the sorceress," clarified a smiling Gigi, who let go of Rogers long enough to set her eyes on Pocahontas. "_Wingapo_." She accompanied her Native greeting with the common gesture for it, waving her hand reverently from left to right, which surprised Pocahontas even more.

"You know of the language of my people?" Pocahontas remarked.

"I know all languages of this world and others around it." Gigi then demonstrated by speaking Chinese, French, German, and finally the native tongue of Pocahontas's tribe. "Your world is just one of many, Pocahontas."

The young native girl of legend smiled. "I would like to see all of them."

Her response stupefied Gigi. "What?"

"Steve Rogers promised that I could go with you…to your world – with Grandmother Willow's permission." Pocahontas said.

Gigi's eyes leered over to Rogers, who merely shrugged with an "I didn't have any other choice" type of expression on his face. Suddenly, she wasn't so glad to see him anymore.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen: Project Geo Base – 2012**

Sean thanked God that the women's locker room was empty with the only exception being his mother, who he heard showering as he entered with a fresh new uniform suited for a _young_ female. He couldn't get over the thought of his mother having been de-aged to practically a year behind him. When asked how the phenomenon occurred, Ciciley could only tell him that it was "that damned freak." Sean knew right away that she was referring to Gigi, whose attack – the one that resulted in Ciciley receiving a gash in her knuckles – also resulted in Ciciley absorbing some of Gigi's blood and extensively healing her. It was the strangest thing Sean had ever come across, and that was saying a lot in a world with a man who turns big and green when angry, a god of thunder that lives amongst mortals, a World War II hero who'd been frozen in ice for over five decades, and a billionaire playboy with an arc reactor for a heart.

"I brought you some new threads." Sean said over the running water.

The shower walls obscured Ciciley from his view, which he was highly grateful for. Even if his mother did regain her young, slender, athletic physique, the last thing he needed to see was her naked in the shower. "O.K. Thanks, hun. Just set them on one of the benches."

She sounded a little weak to Sean, groaning slightly between her words. At that point, he felt like he needed to move around the wall and _blindly_ check on her. But before he could have done anything, he heard a long, weird noise that sounded like a combination of someone blowing their nose, a creaky chair, and a duck call. It was only when a foul odor had seeped into the _entire_ locker did he realize _who_ made that noise – his mother.

Shielding his nose and mouth with his right hand and using the other to fan the odor away from him, Sean didn't hold back in voicing his displeasure in his mother's gas-passing. "Ugh! What the heck, Moms? That was all over the place!"

Ciciley moaned. "I think what your 'friend' did to me hasn't finished its job yet."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that my guts feel like they're shiftin' on me! Like everything I ever digested is leavin' me!" She moaned again – more heavily than before. "Ohhhh, man! This sucks!"

Sean's voice was muffled from his human gasmask. "It sucks for _you_? What about me? I'm surrounded by sixty-year-old fumes coming out of a twenty-year-old body!"

"Oh, shut up. I never complained when I had to smell _your_ gas during every diaper I'd changed!" There was another round of gas-passing that ended small, brief, squeaky winds and Ciciley sighed with relief. "Whew! I think that's it."

"Ugh. Think I'm gonna be sick." Sean heard the shower come to a stop and saw Ciciley come around the corner of the section of the locker room that he stood in. Seeing her dripping wet with a bath towel wrapped around her from the chest down and looking as beautiful as she did in her old photos, Sean couldn't believe someone that looked so lovely could be capable of creating the type of odor that had befallen the women's locker room. "You just brought the phrase 'Out with the old and in with the new' to a whole new literal level."

Ciciley glared at him. "You _do_ know your _alien_ friend is to blame, right?"

"She's _not_ an alien."

"Oh, yeah? Then exactly _what_ is she? She's not of _our_ world, that's for sure. For God's sakes, Sean, look what she did to me!"

"You did this to yourself! You were the one who beat the crap out of her! You turned _yourself_ into a freak!"

Ciciley was stunned by her son's harsh words. When she had a chance to retort, the both of them heard the locker room door fly open and saw Nick Fury stomp his way inside. "What is goin' on in here?" As soon as he saw Sean, he grew increasingly upset. "Livingston? What the hell are you doing in the women's locker?"

Sean stammered on a reply, but his mother thankfully stepped in to address the S.H.I.E.L.D. director. "Take it easy on him, Nicholas. _I'm_ the reason why he's in here."

When Fury's one good eye finally focused on Ciciley, it grew wide with a reaction of surprise that Sean didn't think the director was capable of. "Ciciley? Is…Is that…you?" She nodded with a grin. "What happened? H-How did you get like this?"

"You know the magic woman whose butt I kicked earlier?" When she saw Fury nod, she gestured to herself and added, "Well, _she_ did _this_ to me."

Fury's astonishment increased with that news. He knew Gigi was qualified in teleporting people between worlds with her magic, but he didn't think she was in reversing the ages of sixty-year-olds. "Oh, my god, Ciciley…you look exactly as you did when I still had both my eyes." Sean could see the director – his boss – eyeing his mother's young, half-naked form with a deeply captivated look on his face. "You…You look…_great_!"

Sean then looked to Ciciley, who appeared flattered from the way that Fury had been looking at her. It all made him feel a bit disgusted, which was why he spoke up immediately. "O-kay! I think it's time we focused on _bigger_ things right now." He heard his mother snicker. "Not _that_! I mean the fact that Gigi's back in the Disneyverse right now, trying to get Cap and Stark back."

"What about Banner?" Fury asked.

The mentioning of the man whose alter-ego was a tall, green monster brought out a curious revelation in Sean. "She didn't mention him before she left…that's weird."

"Maybe she's scared of what his 'friend' will do to her once he realizes that she'd abandoned him in some parallel world." Ciciley wickedly said.

"She doesn't know that Banner turns into the Hulk." Fury noted.

Ciciley laughed. "Ah. Keep her out of the loop and let the surprise come when it's least expected, eh? Nicholas, I do believe you're reverting to your old tactical skills."

Sean didn't appreciate the joy his mother had taken in Gigi's misfortune of not knowing what Banner was liable of doing when he turned into the Hulk. What bothered him even more was the idea that something might've happened to Banner in the Disneyverse – something that Gigi didn't want to tell him before her departure in fear of worrying him, Fury, and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was at that point Sean hoped she would return sooner with Cap and Stark to explain why Banner was left out of her plan. Was it just absent-mindedness on her part or was something actually wrong with Banner?

"When she returns, we'll get to the bottom of things," said Fury, who appeared to have read Sean's mind. "There's still more that she has to tell us – mainly about the sphere and the other world, and especially about herself and where _she _comes from."

"As long as she doesn't get hurt." Sean added, which got him some suspicious stares from Fury and Ciciley.

"That depends on how much of the truth she's willing to tell us." Fury told Sean. "I just hope you haven't been too compromised from this mission to do what needs to be done. Do I still have your loyalty, Agent?"

Sean remained silent for a brief time, but he finally nodded and said, "Yes, sir."

Fury nodded in approval. "Good." He then coyly looked to Ciciley and said, "I'll, uh, see _you_ later."

Ciciley smirked as she watched Fury walk backwards, not taking his eyes off of her as he exited the locker room. It amused Sean that the entire time Fury was in the locker room flirting with his mother that the S.H.I.E.L.D. director didn't seem bothered by the foul odor in the room. It was something that the young agent found even weirder than everything else that had happened in the past few hours.

He focused back on his mother, who began waving him off. "Scoot," she said. "Need to get my threads on." It was one order from her that he didn't mind acknowledging, leaving the funky locker room without any hesitation.

**Realm D2010**

Tony couldn't remember the last time he had so much fun – at least not since his last birthday party (what he initially thought would be his final one). The "Snuggly Duckling," a pub that Flynn decided to take Stark, Rapunzel, and Pascal (Rapunzel's small, scaly chameleon friend) to, was one place Tony never thought he would step foot in. From the outside, the place had a cute name and even appeared comforting; however, once they stepped inside, he and Rapunzel discovered that it was the complete opposite with a large group of cutthroats occupying the place.

It was only when Tony noticed how uncomfortable Rapunzel was inside the pub when he caught on to why Flynn brought them there – to scare Rapunzel into going back home and possibly get Stark killed in the process. The thugs were baffled and even cautious between Rapunzel's long golden hair and Tony's iron suit. Had it not been for the fact that wanted posters of Flynn were inside the pub, the thugs would have certainly done inexplicable things to Rapunzel and Tony. Unfortunately, Flynn's plan backfired on him and he found himself being fought over by the greedy thugs that wanted to turn him in for money.

While the thugs were occupied with fighting over Flynn, Tony thought it was a great idea for him and Rapunzel to make a break for it. But, much to Stark's surprise, Rapunzel wanted to rescue Flynn. In order to please the young girl's request, Tony put his iron suit to use and combated with the thugs. That was when the "fun" started for him as he engaged in an intense brawl with the thugs, his iron fists and repulsor blasts sending several of the men flying in all directions. For a while, it seemed as if Stark had gained the upper hand against the thugs; but a cheap shot from a group of thugs had turned the tide when they slammed a table against Tony from behind.

Now the thugs had Tony pinned. A freed Flynn stood nearby with Rapunzel, and they both looked on anxiously, fearing the worse for Stark. One hook-handed thug loomed over the pinned Stark, raising his hook high above his head. He then brought the hook down with swift speed…only to stop it just an itch from Tony's face. Surprised that he wasn't dead, Tony stared blankly at the one-handed thug as he joyously told the Iron Man, "That was a _great_ fight!"

The other thugs around Tony laughed in agreement with the hook-handed thug as they unpinned Stark and actually helped him up his feet. "Uh…thanks?" It was all Tony could say in response to the confusing display. He glanced over to Flynn and Rapunzel, who looked as surprised as him over the sudden turn of events.

"Where did ya get such fancy armor?" The "Hook Hand" thug asked while knocking at Stark's iron suit.

Tony shrugged, not knowing how to explain tech to a group of thugs with such low-intelligence. The best he could say was: "Held captive in a cave for nearly a year and the idea just came to me."

His answer earned him some laughs from the thugs.

Meanwhile, Flynn was exasperated from the high praise Stark was getting after engaging in battle with the cutthroats. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered. Unfortunately, his muttering reminded the thugs that he was in the room, and they suddenly began to advance on him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Guys! Guys!" Tony stopped them. "He's with me. I need his help to know where I am."

"Me, too." Rapunzel said. "I need him to take me to see the lanterns, because I've been dreaming about them my entire life. Find your humanity. Haven't any of you ever had a dream?"

It was deathly quiet in the pub. The hook-handed thug removed a large axe from his back and towered over Rapunzel. His face then grew sad as he softly said, "I…had a dream…once." He then hurled his axe over at a corner, nearly decapitating the head of an accordion player who began playing as if on cue.

What happened next had surprised Tony to no end –the cutthroats he fought only seconds ago suddenly engaged in song and dance, singing about their dreams. He felt awkward standing among them all, so he found a better place to be while they sang and danced – the bar. Stark poured him some strong, alcoholic brew in a filthy metal mug and took a large swig of it. _If I'm going to get involved in this weirdness, I'd better be inebriated enough to handle it_, he thought upon taking another swig.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen: Realm D2010**

It was a surprise attack that the captain and his fellow palace guards would never forget when they regained consciousness. While roaming through the forest in their search for Flynn Rider with the captive Stabbington Brothers in tow, they were ambushed by an unspeakable creature. Tall, green, and muscular, it took the guards down without giving them any opportunity for defense. The Stabbington Brothers watched the green man – at least that was what it looked like to them – in terror; never before had they witnessed something so inhuman. While the creature stood over the injured bodies of the guards as they were sprawled over the ground, a group of men appeared out of nowhere and freed the brothers from their shackles.

One man with a top hat and shadowed by a muscular man with an angry brunette in his company and a short, obese man had approached the identical twin brothers. Tipping his hat to the Stabbingtons, he said, "Afternoon, gents. Facilier's the name. As you boys can see, I have quite the company." The brothers' eyes went to Facilier's green monster. "Don't worry about the Hulk. He's harmless…to us, at least. But if y'all were to join us in our _cause_, then he'll keep his distance."

The brothers looked to each other with caution of this sudden deal. Only the brother with the mutton chops and green attire spoke up: "What's your cause?"

"We're after our greatest desires." Facilier stated. "You gents look like you're after some desires yourself. So tell us…what ya want?"

"We want Flynn Rider." The brother in green, who appeared to be the more talkative one, immediately answered. "He's got somethin' we want, and we'll _kill_ him just to get it."

Facilier grinned. "I admire your passion. But is it _really_ just Rider you're after."

"We want the crown, too."

"Ah. The crown that y'all stole from the palace."

Facilier's awareness shocked the brothers. "How did you kn—?"

"You boys can have _more_ than just some worthless crown. I can provide you with enough wealth to make ya _kings_ of your own world. A world where you can rule with iron fists dipped in gold."

The Stabbington brothers considered Facilier's deal with a hint of doubt. "That's a pretty big offer comin' from one guy."

Facilier shrugged. "Too bad. You two got some good-lookin' faces. It's a shame my green friend here's gotta mess them up even more." He snapped his fingers and the Hulk reacted to the sound like a dog acknowledging his master's signal. His green eyes centered on the Stabbington brothers, who he quickly began to advance on.

"Alright! Alright! ALRIGHT!" The brother in green cried with intense fear.

Facilier snapped his fingers again, and the Hulk stopped just less than a foot away from the cowering Stabbington brothers. The voodoo bokor gawked back at the brothers, who looked more agreeable. "Smart boys, you are."

* * *

Pocahontas looked around at the "new world" that she, Steve Rogers, and Sheryl were brought to by Gigi. She was slightly bemused to see that nothing around her looked any different than where she was previously. "_This_ is the new world? Nothing has changed. It is all still a forest."

Rogers spotted something ahead of the group's path and smiled. "Are you _sure_ about that?" He pointed for Pocahontas, and she saw a strange place with an equally strange name, "The Snuggly Duckling." The sight of the setting caught Pocahontas by surprise, but it was certainly the confirmation she needed to see that she was in fact within another world.

"That's where Stark is, isn't it?" Sheryl deduced.

Gigi nodded. "Yep. And if what I'm sensing right now is correct, he's _totally_ wasted in there."

Hearing that news, Rogers sighed in aggravation. He stormed his way over to the Snuggly Duckling with Gigi, Sheryl, and Pocahontas following close behind. As they got closer to the entrance, they heard what could only be singing and dancing from inside the restaurant. Rogers casually opened the door for himself and his female companions. Together, they witnessed the bizarre scene of singing and dancing barbarians with an intoxicated Tony Stark in the midst of it all, along with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.

As soon as the group entered the scene, everyone except for Tony stopped singing and dancing, looking directly upon them. "_Hey! I've gotta dream! I got to dream! Deep down inside, I got to_…" Stark ceased his singing and dancing as soon as he discovered that everyone else had. He followed their gaze on Rogers and appeared delighted to see his fellow Avenger in his drunken stupor. "Heeeey, Cap! Captain American!"

"Are you done here?" Rogers harshly queried.

"I…I…" Stark looked around at the large group of cutthroats surrounding him. "I don't know _what_ I am here. I've been here for well over three hours, waiting for a way out or somebody to come rescue me, or whichever came first. But, hey! _You_ showed up!" He caught a glimpse at Rogers's companions. "And you brought ladies!" He then turned to the cutthroats and said, "Now the party _really_ gets fun, guys!"

The thugs laughed over Stark's comment, which was the last straw with Rogers. The legendary WWII hero furiously knocked the mug in Stark's hand away, causing its contents to splash all over the floor. "Playtime's over, Tony! Let's go!"

"Hey!" The hook-handed thug approached Rogers with a scowl on his face. "Mister Stark leaves when _he_ wants to leave."

Sheryl snickered. "_Mister_ Stark?"

Tony calmly patted the hook-handed thug on the shoulder. "It's cool, guy. Captain Party Pooper's just looking out for my best interest."

"Do you have _any_ idea what we've gone through to find you?" Rogers rhetorically questioned. "Banner's now missing and could be in trouble."

"What kind of trouble is he in?" Stark asked.

The exchange was brought to an abrupt halt just as everyone heard a monstrous roar from outside the Snuggly Duckling. Stark, Rogers, and Sheryl instantly recognized the register of the roar as that of the Hulk. Everyone else, especially Rapunzel, stood confused and even frightened by the animalistic sound.

"W-What was that?" Rapunzel asked, tightening her grip on the frying pan she carried around with her.

"That's Banner, isn't it?" Gigi questioned to Rogers. "Man! I'm picking up some wild senses on him. I'm not sensing the same guy that I met back in the base."

"That's because he's _not_ the same guy." Sheryl said. "He's over seven feet tall, big, and green right now. He's not Banner…he's the Hulk!" Her eyes grew more distressed. "And from what _I'm_ sensing right now, he's been enchanted."

"The Hulk's in love?" Stark drunkenly assumed.

"No, man." Sheryl remarked. "I mean that somebody's put him under a spell…got him under control."

Rogers began to follow on her analysis and come upon a startling realization. "That means Banner's no longer in…"

Before Rogers could have finished, the roof of the Snuggly Duckling suddenly imploded, scattering everyone inside. A large, green figure soon landed directly inside and roared madly, shaking the very foundation of the restaurant. Chaos soon erupted as the cutthroats lunged upon the Hulk, only to have been tossed around like ragdolls. A petrified Flynn and Rapunzel dashed out of the restaurant with Stark, Cap, Gigi, Sheryl, and Pocahontas. Once outside, the group ran as far into the woods as possible.

In the midst of their escape, Sheryl wondered aloud, "Why are we running when we can just _poof_ out of here?"

"Because we're _not_ leaving Banner _or _the Hulk behind." Gigi answered.

"You mean you want to _help_ that monster?" Sheryl questioned in surprise.

"He's no monster." Gigi contradicted. "I can still sense a good man in there. Whomever or whatever enchanted him didn't take him completely."

The fleeting group was soon brought to a halt once a crowd of strangers in the woods suddenly appeared in their path. Flynn saw the Stabbington brothers among the other group and nervously uttered, "Uh-oh. Uh, h-hey. I've been searching everywhere for you guys since we got separated. So, uh…" Flynn eyed the other men that accompanied the brothers. "Started your own gang, eh?" The brothers didn't respond, putting more awkward silence between them. "Yeah, well, I imagine you both are thinking about that crown right now, but I assure you that it's someplace _real_ safe. In fact, we can…"

"We're not interested in the crown anymore, Rider." The brother in green said.

Flynn began to feel even more nervous upon hearing that. "Well, uh, if not the crown, then…what is it you guys want?"

"We want to see the green guy make you _suffer_."

The Hulk's roar could be heard in the distance; it was soon followed by the sinister laughter of the group of men that accompanied the Stabbington brothers. Gigi glared upon one man, the leader of the group. "Doctor Facilier," she uttered his name with much distain.

"So the great Guardian _does_ know me." Facilier conceitedly said. "I'm honored."

"You're crazy." Gigi retorted, taking notice in Facilier's gang of thugs. "You have no idea what dangers you've put this universe in by taking these people out of their worlds."

"Oh, I'm aware of the dangers, sistah. But we have that issue rectified." Facilier assured. "My friends on the other side have shown me a way to get around that nasty lil' end-of-the-world thing that happens when our worlds cross. They've shown me the secret pathways to allow _anyone_, myself included, to go in and out as they please. Bet the old wizard didn't tell you about _that_, did he?"

His reference to Yen Sid only infuriated Gigi. "What do you want?"

Facilier moved in closer to her. "I want your power. I want the hat, the magic, the whole get-up, if ya catch my drift."

"Good luck gettin' it, dude, because no one but those who are pure of heart like the Guardian can wear it." Sheryl told Facilier.

Facilier eyed Sheryl with great interest. When he brought his focus back on Gigi, he pointed to Sheryl and asked, "She _still_ hasn't told you who she _really_ is?" His inquiry made Gigi look curiously to Sheryl. Fueling on her curiosity, Facilier excitedly exclaimed, "Ah! She hasn't? Aw, yeah. This is gonna be good right here."

"Shut up!" Sheryl defensively yelled.

"Don't worry. I won't spill on your secret." Facilier guaranteed. "Y'all got _much_ more to worry about."

The roar of the Hulk sounded again, only it was much closer than the last time, signaling to Gigi's group that the green behemoth was there. The Hulk dropped in unexpectedly from above, forcing them to break apart. Cap hurled his shield at his brainwashed fellow Avenger, connecting it directly with his face. Iron Man then stepped in and fired his repulsor blasts at full power, knocking the Hulk into some trees that tumbled under his massive weight and buried him under them.

Gigi looked back over to Facilier, who remain idly standing where he was, along with his men. Only Belle appeared fidgety under Gaston's grip, due to the unsettling appearance of the monstrous Hulk. Glaring at Facilier with glowing white eyes, Gigi threatened, "This _isn't_ over."

Facilier didn't appear to be fazed by the threat or her ghostly white eyes and instead issued one of his own. "You and your S.H.I.E.L.D. buddies better be on your toes because we'll be comin' for the _real_ world next."

Gigi heeded this warning from the voodoo bokor just before she made herself and her group, including Flynn and Rapunzel, disappear before the eyes of Facilier and his gang. Facilier observed the magic act with a confident grin.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen: Project Geo Base – 2012**

Disguising himself as "Agent Lisa Marie" proved to be a slight challenge for Yen Sid. The master sorcerer had to _become_ her, abandoning the mannerisms that defined him as a character in his world. However, considering the line of work that "Lisa" was in, Yen Sid found it easier just to be himself – through "Lisa." Of course, his powerful aura could still be detected by the other agents he passed in the halls of the Project Geo Base, as each one stared upon him with intimidated faces. By then, Yen Sid realized that he was not wearing the sunglasses to mask Lisa's blue eyes, which carried his piercing stare. Rather than put the sunglasses on, Yen Sid opted to intimidate the other agents. _Perhaps my work here will be more discreet without too much focus on me_, the sorcerer thought.

Passing by the door to the women's restroom, Yen Sid heard odd noises coming from inside. Curious, the master sorcerer went inside to find his apprentice, Mickey Mouse (in the guise of "Agent Samantha 'Sammi' Solus"), sitting on the floor of the empty restroom and being licked in the face by his dog, Pluto. Seeing his apprentice with Pluto had greatly upset Yen Sid. He shut the restroom door behind him and placed a spell on the door to morph it into a section of the bathroom wall, preventing anyone outside from entering.

Mickey realized that Yen Sid was in the room and immediately stood up. "Master!" His voice as Sammi Solus sounded much squeakier than his real one when nervous. "I…I can explain!"

"How long has Pluto been here?" To Mickey, Yen Sid's voice as Lisa Marie sounded more intimidating than his real one.

"I placed an invisibility spell on him, Master; s-so that no one would've known he was here the whole time." Mickey saw the displeased look on Lisa's face, mirroring Yen Sid's actual emotion. "I-I'm sorry, Master." He knelt down beside Pluto and rubbed Sammi's fingers through Pluto's fur. "I just couldn't leave him there in the workshop all alone. And I wouldn't _dream_ of leavin' him there _now_ with that Clayton fella all tied up."

Yen Sid let out an aggravated sigh, but he considered Mickey's reasoning for having Pluto in the top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base. "Are you _certain_ your spell makes him unseen by everyone here, _excluding_ you?"

"Well, I…uh…"

Mickey's tentative answer was enough for the master sorcerer to decipher that his apprentice had in fact _not_ excluded himself from the spell. "Modify the spell so that it _does_ exclude you and keep Pluto in Samantha Solus's quarters. After you've accomplished that task, return to me. The Guardian has returned to the base with Sheryl."

"Joanie's back?"

"She is not 'Joanie' anymore, apprentice. We would be wise to remind ourselves of that when we see her."

* * *

"So you're basically telling me that Banner _and_ the Hulk have both been compromised?" Fury asked, after listening to a rundown of what occurred in the Disneyverse from Steve Rogers. "Well, I can certainly add voodoo to the list of things that can turn a nine-foot green man against me."

Fury and Rogers stood in the laboratory near the Sphere with Gigi, Sean, Sheryl, Barton, Romanoff, Ciciley, and Selvig. Stark sat by a computer console to the side, stripped of his Iron Man suit and wearing blue jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt; he sipped a cup of black decaffeinated coffee to help fight off the hangover that he had experienced upon re-entering the real world. Outside the boundaries of the laboratory, the Disney characters brought along with the group from their recent excursion were busy gawking over all of the high technology that surrounded them.

"We're dead, aren't we?" Flynn asked.

"I knew I'd see the lights, but _these_ lights are _much_ more beautiful!" Rapunzel exclaimed, staring upon the various colors of lights blinking from the computers – most of which Pascal mimicked on her shoulder.

Having already been impressed by the previous world she visited, Pocahontas was far much so within this new one. She wished Grandmother Willow, Flit, Meeko, and the members of her tribe could be there with her to see so many wonders. Then again, she was certain most of them would be terrified of it all, especially the more elderly members of her tribe.

Seeing all of the new characters brought into the base, Fury grew frustrated – specifically towards Gigi. "I am not running a theme park here. I can't afford to have any more characters around."

"I know, and I'm sorry." Gigi remarked. "I just couldn't afford to let Flynn and Rapunzel remain in their world with Facilier and his gang having conquered it."

"And Pocahontas?" Fury gestured to the young native girl.

Before Gigi could have responded, Rogers stepped in. "Uh, _I'm_ the reason for Pocahontas being here. She wanted to see the worlds beyond hers, and I…I…"

"Couldn't just say 'no' to her?" Stark finished the Captain's statement.

Much as he hated to admit it, Rogers shamefully acknowledged Stark's spot-on observation. "Yeah."

"Well, I don't blame ya for doing what you did, Cap." Ciciley said. "You were merely a victim of circumstance – caused a _certain_ alien who shall not be named because she doesn't _have_ a name." She glared towards Gigi upon snidely adding the last half of her comment.

Realizing that she was being insulted, Gigi angrily stated in her defense, "I _have_ a name!"

"You had to be _given_ one by my son like some pet, because you can't even figure out who or _what_ the hell you are anymore!" Ciciley exclaimed, her tone noticed by everyone around them who stopped their activities and watched the scene unfold with interest.

Gigi advanced on Ciciley, who didn't budge an inch. "Is this your sick way of having fun? Putting down those who possess great power and abilities? I don't know if you've realized, but you're _surrounded_ by people with great power and abilities. Captain America, Iron Man, and even the Hulk." She saw how her words appeared to be cutting through the tough exterior of Ciciley. "You know what I think? I think you're just jealous because you can't be _half_ of what these men are."

Without warning, Ciciley swiftly took a swing at Gigi. However, the sorceress was prepared for the cheap shot and used her power to stop Ciciley's fist in mid-swing. Seeing her fist frozen in place just a few inches from Gigi's face, Ciciley quickly became terrified. She tried to move her fist from the position it was frozen in, but she found it to be completely stuck in place. She then saw Gigi's eyes glowing ghostly white – a sight that frightened her even more.

Fearing the confrontation between the two women was about to take a turn for the worse, Sean and Sheryl simultaneously stepped in and said, "Stop! We're on the same side!" They did not address the same woman, but rather the one that they were more associated with. The delivery was so perfectly in sync that it surprised both Sean and Sheryl themselves. The two looked to each other. As their eyes met, Sean felt a sense of familiarity with Sheryl as if he had met her somewhere before. For Sheryl, however, it was like looking into a living reflection of her past self.

"They're right." Rogers spoke up, severing the mental link that Sean and Sheryl momentarily shared. "If we're going to stop this guy Facilier and save Doctor Banner, then we'll need to stop fighting each other and start _trusting_ each other." He looked to Stark, Burton, and Romanoff and added, "That's what _we_ had to learn in order to assemble and save the world."

Gigi listened to Cap's every word and she released the magical hold that she had on Ciciley's fist. Ciciley immediately dropped her arm, shaking off the numbness that began to develop within it and her hand. Gigi's display of sorcery didn't convince Ciciley any less that Gigi was a dangerous entity. Although she didn't declare it vocally, she swore to put an end to the sorceress through any means necessary.

All of the sudden, the lights and computers within the room went out, leaving the group and all the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives in total darkness. However, the darkness only lasted for a short time as the Sphere soon began to rapidly glow in a rainbow of bright colors and illuminate half of the enormous room. Upon witnessing the unusual occurrence, Fury exclaimed, "What in God's name is goin' on?"

Elendriel, Sammi, and Lisa entered the room just as the event began. "All of the power in the base just shut down for no reason whatsoever," reported a frantic Elendriel. "Please tell me we're just experiencing a temporary outage."

"I wish we could be so lucky, big sis." Sean uttered as he and the others kept their focus squarely on the glowing Sphere.

The precipitous flashes of colors continued for a few minutes more and then the glow extinguished, leaving everyone in darkness once again. The base's power returned as suddenly as it had disappeared, but the residents quickly discovered that they had unwelcomed guests in their presence. Doctor Facilier, Gaston (with Belle), LeFou, and the Stabbington Brothers were among the army of thugs that had infiltrated the Project Geo Base, holding each and every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent at gunpoint or knifepoint. Only the Hulk was absent from the group. Fury saw how Facilier's militia surprisingly outnumbered them, and he gave the command for his agents to not take action against the intruders.

Facilier approached the laboratory, gawking at the high-tech surroundings. "Well, well…ain't this quite the fancy hangout." His focus leered over to Nick Fury. "You the big man in charge 'round here?"

"Did the eye patch give it away?" Fury jested.

The voodoo bokor chuckled and started to advance on the S.H.I.E.L.D. director threateningly. Gigi feared that the Disney villain would make a violent move and hurriedly made herself known to him. "Facilier! I give you what you want, and you leave all these people alone?"

Nearby, Sammi looked unnerved from the deal that Gigi was making with the untrustworthy Facilier. She glanced over to Lisa, who remained unaffected. It was difficult to determine what exact thoughts Lisa had on all that had transpired in the base that moment. Sammi couldn't tell if there was a plan of resistance involved or not. From Lisa's standpoint on things, Gigi appeared to have control over the situation.

Facilier approached the sorceress with a wicked smile. "You have my word on that, little girl." As if in anticipation of what was to come, Facilier held out his hand to her to accept the object of his desire.

Sheryl stood and watched in total disbelief as Gigi reached up and took Yen Sid's sorcerer hat off her head with a heavy sigh. She would never have imagined the Guardian of the Disneyverse – her own mother – to have given up her magic so easily. Sammi shared the same outlook on the matter, her body growing tenser between watching Facilier take the hat from Gigi and the thug that had his knife pointed directly at her neck. As much as Sammi and Sheryl both wanted to make a move, the two apprentices knew how much Lisa would disapprove of their endangering lives.

Facilier cackled as he held the hat in his own two bony hands. "At last, the power of the universe is mine!" He removed his top hat, exposing his permed hair, and placed the sorcerer hat upon his head. He then stood with his arms outstretched, waiting for the magic to happen. Of course, after a few short minutes, nothing happened – much to the chagrin of the hat's new wearer. "What the…?"

But then something _did_ happen, and it was the complete opposite of what Facilier hoped for. A sudden jolt of electricity escaped from the hat and went through the Shadow Man's body. He groaned in extreme pain and was brought down to his knees, right at the feet of a smiling Gigi. Facilier's army of thugs, Gaston and LeFou most particularly, watched in immense dissatisfaction as the man who promised them wealth and power had been swiftly defeated…by a hat. Sheryl and Sammi, in the meantime, had breathed in relief after seeing Gigi's submission was a ploy to subdue Facilier.

Realizing that Gigi helped them to gain the upper hand, Fury quickly ordered the agents to retaliate against Facilier's thugs, disarming them and pointing their own guns and knives at them. Gaston and LeFou were the first to surrender, followed soon by the Stabbington Brothers. Free from Gaston's confinement, Belle moved in slightly closer to Gigi, who she saw as her guiding light from the nightmare she had to endure for the past hours.

Gigi knelt down, still smiling over the subdued Facilier. "You should've listened to Sheryl's warning about the hat. Many like you have tried to conquer the magic, and they all have failed epically. I'll be taking it back now, and you're gonna tell me where is Bruce Bann—"

She grabbed at the hat and was abruptly caught off guard from the jolt she received – the same one that brought Facilier down. Her grip on the hat became unmovable by an unseen force. Another jolt ran through her body as she felt all of the energy within her drained. She looked down below her and saw how her shadow had shifted from beneath her to beneath Facilier. Her body grew chillingly cold and weak as it continued to receive shocks from the hat, which morphed from its glittering blue and white design to a black and purple one that literally sparked with yellow electricity.

Facilier's clothes changed as well. He now bore a long black robe that hid his slender physique, making him appear broader and more intimidating. Once another jolt from the altered sorcerer hat removed Gigi's grip from it and sent her falling lifelessly to the floor, Facilier stood at his full height again. His eyes sparked in an eerie purple hue and looked upon all of the terrified faces – from both S.H.I.E.L.D. and his army of thugs.

Raising his arms up high, he spoke in a deep, hallowed voice: "**All hail…**_**The Shadow Sorcerer**_**!**"


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen: Project Geo Base – 2012**

A few agents rushed for Facilier as soon as his transformation into the "Shadow Sorcerer" was complete; unfortunately, he detected their action before it was put into motion, and he turned them to ash with just a wave of his hand. The Shadow Sorcerer smiled upon witnessing his own malevolent power. His own men were frightened of him and his new capabilities, watching in stillness as he stood in the center of the room, his hands lifted high and shooting electricity from his fingertips. An extremely uneasy Sammi looked on with a stunned Lisa standing by her. Fury wasn't certain what he should do next with such a powerful entity among them. Even the Avengers (Rogers, Stark, Barton, and Romanoff) had no strategy to counteract the Shadow Sorcerer's unpredictable magic.

_Where's Thor when we really need him_, Stark particularly thought.

Facilier stood over the fallen, lifeless body of Gigi, laughing as he looked down at her. "Now…what shall I do with you? I can do anything I want to now. Nothin' ain't gonna stop me. Not even _you_." Without looking away from Gigi, he pointed directly to where a highly horrified Sheryl stood; her body grew tense as she saw the dark figure address her. "Don't think for a second I don't know what you're plannin' on doing."

Sheryl was at a loss for words. She _did_ have a plan to stop Facilier, but she presumed it wouldn't have gone noticed by the Shadow Sorcerer, due in part that she was a magical being as well. Regrettably, Facilier proved to be more powerful than her. "I…I…" Not even words could have led her out of the predicament that she suddenly found herself in with Facilier. With another gesture from his left hand, she soon found herself caught in a spell. The room around her got bigger; but, in truth, _she_ had gotten _smaller_.

Facilier, the Shadow Sorcerer, cackled with immense satisfaction as he watched Sheryl's form shrink down until she was buried beneath her own clothes, which were left as a pile on where she once stood. Addressing the audience of petrified souls surrounding him, Facilier said while moving to the pile of clothes, "Y'all wanna somethin' _really_ pitiful?" With his foot, he moved aside the empty robe, shirt, and leggings to reveal the small, misshapen, gray-skinned humanoid creature that barely stood within the pile.

Rogers watched along with the others at the creature that was in actuality a transformed Sheryl. From the way she attempted to cover her naked, deformed body from her oversized clothes, she still seemed aware of her surroundings and what Facilier had transformed her into. Rogers focused on the Shadow Sorcerer and asked, "What've you done to her?"

"I turned somethin' beautiful and powerful into somethin' ugly and weak. What else does it look like to you, fool?" His gigantic form loomed over the tiny creature. He then lifted his right foot and let it hover right over her. "I can squash her like the pitiful little bug that she is." Sheryl's tiny, desperate screams were hardly audible as she was shadowed by Facilier's giant foot.

"NO!" Lisa immediately yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the room, including Facilier. "You will turn her back to human form _now_, Facilier, or you will face the consequences of your actions here!"

Facilier stared upon the bold S.H.I.E.L.D. agent with a large grin on his face. He moved his foot away from Sheryl and made his way towards Lisa. "It's you, isn't it? The all-powerful Yen Sid." He glanced towards Sammi, seeing _her_ true form as well. "And his rodent apprentice, Mickey Mouse." Facilier's insulting comment brought upon a furious glare from Sammi, who forgot how intimidated she was by him. "What's up with the female disguises, gentlemen? Too cowardly to show yourselves as men…well, _one_ man, at least."

"We're _not_ cowards!" Sammi angrily exclaimed.

Watching the exchange, Fury became heavily confused, as were Sean, Ciciley, Elendriel, the Avengers, the Disney characters, and the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Ain't it obvious, Mister Fury? You got _spies_ in your secret clubhouse. A master sorcerer and his apprentice – both just as powerless as their prized heroine layin' over there." He gestured to the inert Gigi.

"What makes ya think we don't have the power to stop ya, fella?" Sammi challenged the Shadow Sorcerer.

Facilier chuckled. "Don't believe me? Then _show_ me." He outstretched his arms to expose his slender torso, providing an easy shot. "Show me how powerful you two are."

Both Sammi and Lisa raised their arms and aimed their palms towards Facilier. However, nothing – no magic or displays of sorcery – escaped from their palms. They instantly looked confused – Sammi more so than Lisa. "What…What happened to our magic?" Sammi questioned in surprise.

"It's gone, lil' rat. Without the Guardian, your magic and the magic of all the other sorcerers from your world now belongs to yours truly! I control all the worlds from this one to beyond now! Like I said, there ain't nobody that's gonna st—ACK!"

Everyone watched in confusion as Facilier reacted to a pain in his right leg. From the way in which he shook it, some wondered if the mighty Shadow Sorcerer suddenly developed a cramp in his leg. But the only one who knew what had _really_ happened to Facilier was Sammi, who happily cheered, "Get 'im, Pluto!"

Upon hearing Sammi's cheer, Lisa quickly realized that Facilier had been bitten by the apprentice's precious dog, a result of another disobeyed command. Considering the severity of their current situation, Lisa never felt so relieved to have been disobeyed. She and everyone else watched Facilier wrestle with the invisible dog whose jaws were clamped down over the Shadow Sorcerer's lower right leg. He finally managed to remove Pluto by first making him visible again and conjuring a spell that made the leg Pluto had gnawed on phase through his jaws, leaving Pluto clenching his teeth. Facilier summoned another spell that pushed the dog away from him and sent him colliding into a computer tower.

"Pluto!" Sammi fearfully cried, rushing to the fallen dog and aiding him.

Facilier sinisterly smiled over his victory against the troublesome pooch, but his celebration was short-lived as another searing pain developed over his upper left arm shortly after a loud gunshot noise rang through the area. Clenching his wounded arm with one hand, he turned to see Sean aiming an unusual handgun with a fiery beam of energy emitting from its barrel directly at Facilier. From the look of surprise masked on Facilier's face as he looked upon the handgun, the young S.H.I.E.L.D. agent could tell that he had him right where he wanted him. "Like this? We constructed it after the success of its predecessor and in memory of the man who tested it before he was killed in action. We named the first gun after him – Coulson's Revenge. This bad boy here is its child – Coulson's Wraith. It's immune to everything, _especially_ magic, which means it _can_ and _will_ put an end to you, if you don't stand down _right now_!"

The Shadow Sorcerer stared closely at the gun and sensed that all of what Sean claimed about it to be true. Realizing that he was cornered, Facilier tried to find a way out of his dilemma. His eyes then centered the Sphere, which towered over the proceedings, and he saw hope. "So _that's_ how y'all wanna be," said Facilier, who pretended to sound infuriated to convince his adversaries of his defeat. "Alright. Let's make this _war_ then!"

He raised his arms up high and, in the blink of an eye, he and his army of thugs – including Gaston, LeFou, and the Stabbington Brothers – disappeared from the room. A puzzled Sean holstered his super-powered handgun, looking around along with the others to see that not a trace of the villains was left behind in the wake of their intrusion. Flynn was the first to question their supernatural exit: "Okay…which way did they go?"

"They ran with their tails between their legs." Fury deduced before giving Sean a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "Nice call on the gun."

Sean nodded with a smile as he glanced over at Ciciley. "I'll never question your Christmas gifts again." Ciciley returned the smile.

The smiles turned to frowns as soon as everyone's attention went to the still unconscious Gigi and the transformed Sheryl. Lisa crouched beside Gigi's motionless form, checking for breathing. Sammi remained by the fallen Pluto's side, but her focus briefly shifted to Sheryl. "Master Yen Sid," she said to Lisa, "what will we do about Sheryl?" When Lisa did not respond, Sammi glanced over to him as he continued to stare upon Gigi. "Master Yen Sid?" Lisa finally looked to her; her expression was the usual grimness of Yen Sid, but it had a strong hint of sadness behind it. This clued Sammi in on what Lisa had discovered of Gigi's condition, and it distressed her. "Oh, no."

Before Sammi could have a moment to grieve, she was interrupted by another unusual event that had befallen the base. Its very foundation quaked, starting slight at first but turning violent within seconds. Deep cracks developed within the walls and ceilings. An immense humming sound emerged from the Sphere, growing more and more intense until vibrations from the noise increased the volume of the quake. When a part of the ceiling fell down and nearly crushed a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Fury called for an immediate evacuation.

Every agent gathered whatever necessary equipment, tools, or weapons they could salvage in their haste. Sean went to Gigi's lifeless body and carried her out, while Elendriel – on Sean's request – helped the changed Sheryl out by carrying both her small, misshapen form and her clothes altogether. Sammi carried the injured Pluto out with her with some help from Lisa. The evacuation was handled in an orderly manner, thanks to the efforts of Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Maria Hill. Fury remained in the presence of the Sphere, watching as it gradually lifted itself from the three pairs of legs that supported it and rose close to the already crumbling ceiling. As soon as he witnessed the rising Sphere's crash through the ceiling, Fury escaped from the room just as it collapsed entirely.


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty: Mojave Desert (Former Site of the Project Geo Base) – 2012**

They all watched in horror and disbelief as the Sphere lifted itself from the crumbling navy blue warehouse that was once the top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. base and vanished into the cloudy sky above. Of everyone who stood and witnessed the bizarre takeoff of the alien artifact, only Lisa was unsurprised by the display. She knew sorcery when she saw it, and Facilier – The Shadow Sorcerer – displayed powers that equaled that of the Guardian, having _moved_ the Sphere from its previous location and cloaked it upon its entry somewhere within the troposphere and stratosphere. It was the perfect plan orchestrated by Dr. Facilier – obtain the Guardian's abilities, take away those of all the sorcerers from the _Fantasia_ realm thus preventing anyone from stopping him, and steal the only gateway between reality and the Disneyverse.

Facilier believed that he was the only powerful being in all universes, but he made one critical error: **he let the offspring of the Guardian live**. Almost immediately after the Sphere vanished into the sky, Lisa went to Sheryl, who was still bundled in her oversized clothes as they were carried by Elendriel. "Sheryl," she addressed the misshapen creature that could barely focus her lopsided eyes in the daylight. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need you to focus."

Looking away from Lisa, Sheryl centered her attention on Gigi, whose motionless body was laid on the ground. "M-My…moth…er…"

"She has died." Lisa bluntly told her.

Close nearby, Sean heard what Lisa had said and was distraught, looking over to Gigi's body. Ciciley, hearing the news of the death of the woman she gave her son so much grief over, noticed the sadness in his eyes. She sighed, feeling a bit ashamed of herself, especially after witnessing Gigi's bravery when dealing with Facilier.

"Sheryl," Lisa again calmly addressed the tiny creature held in Elendriel's hands. "I need for you to focus. Focus on reconstructing yourself back into your human form. Break Facilier's spell."

"I…c-can't…s-so…weak."

"Sean." The ears of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent of the same name perked as he heard Lisa say _his_ name, but he soon noticed that she was still addressing Sheryl as she said it. "Facilier _killed_ your mother. Took away her magic – the only thing that kept her alive in this world. He now intends on controlling this world and countless others with _her_ magic. The only one who can stop him is you. Because you are the progeny of the Guardian. Your mother's magic literally runs in your blood. You possess her capabilities, and you must use them to stop Facilier. You are our last hope. Now…_focus_."

Sheryl heard those words not in the voice of Lisa Marie, but the man behind the disguise – Yen Sid. On his command, she did as he requested and concentrated on whatever strength she possessed in her small, disfigured form. Facilier might have taken away her body, but he didn't take away her spirit. This spirit was what she used to do as Yen Sid instructed and reconstruct her body back in the form she gained in her resurrection. She began to grow heavy under the hold of Elendriel, who immediately dropped both Sheryl and her clothes as soon as she saw her small form glow in a golden hue and increase in size.

Again buried beneath the pile of her clothes, she was obscured from the people who looked on her transformation with interest, which included Fury, Sean, Ciciley, Elendriel, Sammi, Rapunzel, Flynn, Pocahontas, and the Avengers. Her form shifted beneath the clothes until a tanned female human hand emerged, followed by the arm that it was attached to. The other arm and hand, as well as two pairs of legs, soon emerged from the pile as well. A head with a beautiful face that was partially hidden by long, flowing blond hair finally appeared with a neck and torso. Sheryl's reconstruction back to her human form was complete, although it was still unclothed with only her buttocks covered by the pile of clothes she emerged from. She was also lying face down on the ground, leaving her front covered as well.

The reconstruction appeared to have taken a toll on her, as she was seen and heard breathing heavily into the dirt. Despite her exhaustion, Lisa nodded in approval of her success in reforming herself. Her eyes moved away from Sheryl for a moment to look to Gigi. With one sorceress back in form, another was lost to the world that she was reborn into.

* * *

Once Sheryl regained her strength, she quickly went to work on burying Gigi with help from Rogers, Sean, and even Ciciley. While the others stood by and watched them bury a friend to a couple, a mother to one, and a hero to many people that day, Sammi shed tears and Pluto whimpered in sadness. Lisa stood with her arms crossed and her face lacking any emotion – the fashion of Yen Sid. After Gigi was buried, Sheryl used her magic to conjure a headstone from the ground and chisel in words that read, "In Loving Memory of Joanie 'Gigi' Navarro-Thomas – The Noble Guardian of this Marvelous World and Many Others."

"She was my mother," said Sheryl, addressing the audience of mourners, only a couple she personally knew. "I never got a chance to tell her that before she died. The truth is that this is the _second_ funeral I've had to tend for her. In another world, much different from this one, she was born Joanie Navarro and died Joanie Navarro-Thomas. Her first death didn't come at the hands of some sick man, but from natural causes. Her death, even though premature, was natural; but _she_ was _not_ a natural woman. She was resurrected into this world in this very spot as 'Gigi,' a name given to her by a good man who stands with us now – Agent Sean Livingston. When she saw him, she thought he was me…or the man I once was before _I_ died in the same world as her and became 'Sheryl.'

Although I _am_ sad over my mother's death, especially over the circumstances through which she died in, I shed no tears. I've shed enough from her _first_ funeral. I only thank God that I had the chance to be with her one more time before I lost her again. As Gigi, she was just as brave and wise as when she was Joanie. My master, Yen Sid, or 'Agent Lisa Marie' as many of you know him in his current form, tells me that I am the last hope for this world and others from the Disneyverse and beyond. I have my mother's magic in me, and _you_ have my word that I will protect these worlds with every power in me. All I ask is for you to believe in me…because I _will__not_ let you down!"

Sheryl's eulogy-turned-motivational speech was met with many approving nods, including those from Fury, Lisa, Ciciley, and Sean. She was filled with hundreds of emotions as she delivered it, but only one stood out to her the most – anger. It was anger for the man who took her mother away from her. It was anger for Dr. Facilier, the self-proclaimed Shadow Sorcerer. Sheryl knew that her first mission as her mother's successor was to stop Facilier from taking any more lives and conquering any other worlds. Shortly after the conclusion of her eulogy, Pocahontas and Rapunzel stepped forward with small assortments of forget-me-nots that were plucked from the desert ground, setting them at the bottom of the headstone.

Seconds after Gigi's funeral, five quinjets arrived at the group's location, responding to the distress signal that Maria Hill sent out in the midst of the evacuation. Watching the standard jets of S.H.I.E.L.D. land near the group, Sheryl realized that the time for mourning was over. She anticipated Fury and his team turning to her, Lisa, and Sammi for help in searching for Facilier and the Sphere once they arrived at the Helicarrier. She was already prepared to provide whatever assistance she could to the organization; however, at the same time, a clever plan had formulated in her mind – the mind of Sean Thomas, son of Joanie Navarro-Thomas, the late Guardian of the Disneyverse.


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Chapter Twenty-One: Realm D1940**

Upon regaining consciousness in the workshop of Yen Sid, Clayton was petrified; but as soon as he realized that he was gagged, tied, and handcuffed, he became extremely angry. He screamed through the gag, demanding to know who put him in such a position. Unfortunately for him, his screams were muffled; of course, it was not like they would have done him much good, considering that he was somewhere much different from the jungle. That made him think back on all that had transpired between then and the moment he awakened. He remembered the strange sorceress that had magically transported him out of the jungle and into – what looked to him at the time – some sort of factory. He blamed his current predicament all on that strange woman; he hoped that he never saw her again; otherwise she would be in _huge_ trouble with him.

Suddenly, Clayton heard voices outside the room – both female (one with an English accent) – and realized that he was not alone in whatever complex he was detained in. The two women walked into the workshop and Clayton noticed how they were dressed in robes like the sorceress that transported him. One woman was of medium height with black hair and blue eyes and wore a turquoise corset, black leggings, and black boots beneath her robe; the other woman was much taller with blond hair and hazel eyes, wearing a white tunic, sparkling light blue tights, and brown slippers beneath _her_ robe.

The two women were in the midst of a debate while entering the workshop with the tall one claiming, "Nothing feels right, Anne-Marie. I feel like something's been drained out of me."

"It is probably just nerves, Katie." The one named Anne-Marie said with her noticeable accent. "We _are_ harboring an outsider here in our world." She gestured to Clayton. "Speaking of the devil, he's up and aware now." She approached the gorilla hunter and knelt down to be at eye level with him. "How's it going, _ol' chap_? Hope you're not too comfortable right now, because you'll be gone as soon as Yen Sid and the Guardian return to this world…back to your _pathetic_ gorilla-hunting hobby."

Anne-Marie's words angered Clayton more; he cursed at her through his gag, despite the fact that she couldn't understand a word. Meanwhile, Katie looked out the window to see eerie black clouds emerging in the sky, turning day into night within seconds. The sight made the young sorceress feel immensely uncomfortable. "Uh…Anne-Marie? You'd better come see this."

Anne-Mare gladly accepted the invitation since it meant getting away from Clayton, who reeked of gunpowder to her. She joined Katie by the window and saw the black clouds circling the sky with purple lightning striking across them. "What in the world…?"

"Something's wrong." Katie nervously said, not taking her eyes off the eerie clouds. "I knew what I was feeling wasn't just…" She stopped just as she spotted a human-shaped figure soaring through the air, right beneath the pitch-black sky. At least it looked human at first to Katie; but as it got closer and closer to Yen Sid's castle – heading directly towards the workshop in particular – she realized that it was _not_ human.

Anne-Marie saw the figure moving towards them as well and distressingly screamed, "Move!" Katie did as she instructed and both women ducked away from the window just as it imploded, scattering chunks of stone all over the room and damaging much of the workshop.

When the smoke from the sudden destruction cleared, Clayton saw exactly _what_ had burst into the room: **a nine-foot-tall hulking green man**. The creature looked directly at Clayton upon making his _smashing_ entrance. Just as the creature began to approach, Anne-Marie leaped from the creature's left and placed him in a headlock. The creature let out a thunderous roar that shook the walls as it struggled to remove Anne-Marie from him. During the struggle, Anne-Marie placed one hand on the creature's head and attempted to conjure a spell that would subdue him; however, she saw that no power had escaped from her hand or body, allowing the creature's madness to continue.

The creature finally got a hold of Anne-Marie and yanked her off of him. He threw the sorceress down on the floor, and the vicious impact left an imprint of Anne-Marie's body there. Lifting his right foot, the creature attempted to stomp down on Anne-Marie, who was already left mildly paralyzed from the massive blow. Before another attack could have been unleashed, a large chair smacked against the creature's body and drew his attention away from Anne-Marie. He looked to Katie, who was the one that threw the chair at him. She also attempted to conjure magic, lifting her hands and aiming them at the creature; but when no magic left her fingertips, she looked at them in confusion and concern.

The distraction was just what the creature needed to attack Katie when she was not focused on him. He charged at her, smacking his body against hers and generating enough force to send her crashing into a wall that hadn't been demolished yet. Katie was nearly unconscious from the incredible blow; her vision was hazy, leaving her staring at an enormous green blur that headed towards her face before everything then went black.

Clayton watched Katie's unconscious form slump down to the floor after receiving the massive punch from the creature. His body grew tense as he saw the creature turn away from her and move his way. Clayton fought with his handcuffs, trying to break free of them; but the binds proved too strong even for his manly strength. When he saw the creature towering over his cowering form, he shut his eyes, not wanting to witness his own end at the hands of the green behemoth. Clayton expected to feel overwhelming pain come over his body, yet all he felt was his gag removed from his mouth. Opening his eyes in confusion, he looked up to see the creature only looking down at him with the same fierce expression, breathing heavily. After a moment of silence, the creature finally spoke _actual_ words…

"You're comin' with me."

**Realm D2004**

Bob Parr arrived back home at not a moment too soon. What the weatherman on the radio described as the worst storm to come to Metroville had Bob concerned as he glanced up at the dark clouds gathering in the sky. It could have been the work of Stormchaser, a super villain capable of manipulating the weather, or it could have been that of The Blue Streak, a superhero capable of the same ability. For all Bob knew, Stormchaser and Blue Streak were engaged in battle, and the storm could've just been the two doing their usual thing. However, upon arriving home, Bob quickly discovered that it was not any ordinary storm brewing above the city; he realized that when noticing how black the clouds were and how purple the lightning looked.

He heard the front door of his house open and turned to see his wife, Helen, step out with haste. "Bob!"

"Helen, are ya seein' this weather? It's…"

"Forget about the weather, Bob. You won't believe who showed up at our house and is having dinner…at _our_ house!" Her attitude was that of great excitement, which seemed odd to Bob, considering the bizarre storm happening above their heads.

"Who?"

Helen smirked. "The Guardian's child."

"The Spectra Guardian?"

"No. _The_ Guardian."

"The Guardian Patriot?"

"No, Bob. _The_Guardian!"

Bob still appeared confused. "The Guardian…?"

"Oh, just come in and meet her!"

"It's a _her_?"

Helen grabbed him by the hand and rushed him indoors. Bob took one last look at the black sky before heading in, still wondering what was the cause of it. He finally went into the dining room and saw a woman sitting at the table and eating a hamburger with fries. Dash, Violet, and Jack-Jack sat with her; while Jack-Jack giggled in his high chair, Dash and Violet asked the child of the Guardian of the Disneyverse several questions, not giving the woman enough time to answer between each one or even chew her food.

Looking at the woman, Bob whispered to Helen, "That's the Guardian's kid?"

"Isn't she amazing? Her name is Sheryl. She was once a man who was reincarnated by magic after dying and became the woman we have in our home now." Helen depicted information received from an earlier conversation with Sheryl. She then somberly added one more bit of information: "She says that the Guardian is dead."

Bob looked to Helen in surprise. "What? How?"

Before Helen could have answered, Sheryl excused herself from Dash and Violet's Q&A session and approached the father and mother of the children. "Mr. Incredible! It's great seeing you in person!" She shook hands with the hero of Metroville. Even though Bob held back on his grip, Sheryl still felt a hint of his remarkable strength. "Man! You _are_ strong!"

"Uh, thanks." Bob felt awkward knowing about the death of Sheryl's mother and not acknowledging it in front of Sheryl, so he did it respectfully. "I'm sorry…about what happened to your mother. She was a great woman – came to visit us on occasion and even helped us save the world quite a few times."

"She was real fond of you guys, too. You're the only people she ever shared the secrets of the Disneyverse with because she knew one day that you would help her protect it." Sheryl said. "That's why I'm coming to you for help now. There's someone threatening the worlds. He calls himself 'The Shadow Sorcerer,' but he's actually just another native of the worlds named Dr. Facilier."

Helen scoffed. "Another guy who wants to take over the world."

"Or the universe, in this case." Bob clarified.

"Yeah, and you've already seen an example of what he's doing to _this_ universe." Sheryl said, gesturing towards the nearest window for them to see the storm continue to build up above Metroville. "It starts out as a storm, but then it becomes an earthquake. After that…it's _literally_ the end of the world."

Dash and Violet joined Bob and Helen in looking out at the storm, seeing it with just as much fear as their parents. Bob became full of resolve as he listened to Sheryl's warning of Facilier's power; all he could think about was protecting his world and especially his family. Turning to Sheryl, he declared, "Whatever help you need, you got it from _all_ of us."


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**Chapter Twenty-Two: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Base – 2012**

"So you were Mickey Mouse the _whole_ time and never even bothered to tell me?" Elendriel questioned to Sammi, who she sat with at the table in the briefing room. They were accompanied by Sean, Lisa, Rogers, Stark, Romanoff, Barton, and Pluto.

Sammi answered all of her burning questions while petting Pluto. "Well, I couldn't risk blowin' my cover while Master Yen Sid and I were in this realm. This may come as a surprise, but not everyone acts so calmly to seeing a three-foot mouse."

Elendriel nodded understandingly to the reasoning behind Mickey's disguise. "Now that your secret identities have been exposed, what's keeping either of you from returning to your real selves?"

"We have been suspended of our magic since Facilier took control of the Guardian's power." Lisa explained. "Her power _and_ her life force are connected to the existence of our universe."

"And now that Facilier's in charge, the rules have changed." Sean deduced.

"Because _he_ is changing them." Lisa acknowledged. "His sources – his 'Friends on the Other Side' – have enabled him to take the power of the Guardian. Our worlds cannot exist without one. But what Facilier does not realize is that black magic cannot coexist with _good_ magic. He's tearing apart every world in our universe as we speak."

"How can we stop him?" Rogers asked.

Lisa sighed. "That is what I'm hoping Sheryl will tell us when she returns."

"Where is she anyway?" Sean inquired. "For that matter, where's my mother and Fury?"

"Right here."

The voice of Nick Fury himself spoke not far from the group as he, Ciciley, Maria, and a young woman who none of the people in the briefing room had met before entered. The woman was a brunette and looked to be the same age as Sean; her eyes were just as brown as his, and she was almost as tall as him, carrying a slender yet toned physique. She was dressed in tight leather pants, leather boots, and a leather top. Sean approached the mysterious woman inquisitively and asked, "Who's this?"

"_This_ is our secret weapon – Subject M1986." Fury instantly answered, although his reply garnered some offended stares from Ciciley and the woman known as "Subject M1986."

Ciciley cleared her throat, as if to notify the S.H.I.E.L.D. director of his blunder, and stated, "Or 'Mindy' as she _prefers_ to be named." Her judgmental tone seemed to have reminded Fury of that fact and the director appeared slightly guilty. "Mindy, this is my son, Sean."

Mindy stuck her hand out to the young agent. "Pleasure to meet you, Agent Livingston."

Sean took her hand and shook it, but during the handshake, he felt her remarkable grip overwhelm his own, taking him completely by surprise. Quickly, he yanked his hand away before Mindy actually shattered every bone in it. "What in the…?"

Noting Sean's reaction to the intense handshake, Fury smiled. "Oh, I should've warned you of her strength. Mindy is the latest and most successful product of the same Super Solider Serum that gave us Captain America."

Hearing this, Rogers looked impressed, gazing upon Mindy with a whole new perspective. "You mean she's…?"

"Got all of your skills and hardcore strength." Ciciley said with a huge grin. "With her and you on our side, that brotha in the funky hat doesn't stand a chance against us."

Mindy kept her focus on Sean the entire time. "Director Fury and your mother brought me up to speed on our situation here. I promise that I'll do whatever I can to ensure the defeat of this enemy. I would've been involved in the battle in New York last month, but the doctors said that I wasn't quite suited for combat yet. Now that I am, I'm _really_ looking forward to kickin' some butt."

Sean nodded and smiled over Mindy's enthusiasm. "Well, that's awesome. But I'm sure you won't need to do very much in this fight, not with a powerful sorceress on our side."

"Cool!" Mindy exclaimed before looking around the room. "Where is she?"

Sean stammered on his reply; he couldn't give her a straight answer because he _didn't_ know _where_ Sheryl was. Fortunately, the stammering did not last very long. A bright flash of light momentarily emerged within the briefing room and then dispersed. Everyone suddenly saw Sheryl standing in the room with a family of people wearing red suits (complete with black masks, gloves, boots, and briefs and gold belts) that had a lowercase "I" insignia on the chest of each. There was no denying at first glance that this family was one of superheroes.

"Wow." Stark uttered, sounding more bemused than impressed.

The father then stepped forward and addressed the group: "You people called for help. Well, fear no more. The Incredibles are here to save the universe."

Jack-Jack giggled in the arms of Helen, gaining the attention of a worried Natasha Romanoff. "Is that…a baby?"

Fury spoke for every puzzled soul in the room when he asked, "What the hell's _this_ supposed to be?"

"I recruited the best heroes in the Disneyverse I could find in helping us stop Facilier." Sheryl said. "These guys are more than the best – they're the _greatest_. With them and your Avengers side-by-side, we can end Facilier's nightmare together."

"I would've had something better in mind than _The Brady Bunch's_ answer to the Fantastic Four." Ciciley criticized.

Dash cringed at the team name Ciciley mentioned. "Fantastic Four? What kind of a lame superhero team is that?"

"This is _not_ gonna work." Fury told Sheryl. "If your idea was to build an army against Facilier, then you should've tried harder than _this_."

Fury's words greatly offended Bob. "Hey, buddy. Give us a break. You haven't even seen what we can do yet."

"Fury, with all due respect, we don't need a whole army of super-powered heroes to go up against Facilier." Sheryl rationalized. "All we're dealing with are a bunch of thugs he picked out of taverns and off the streets. Your men won't have a problem with them, but I'll need the Incredibles to help me get the Hulk back in our good graces. I'll need _everyone's_ help in this."

"You sure will." They all turned to see Rapunzel enter with Flynn Rider and Pocahontas. "That's why _we'll_ be helping out whatever way we can." Rapunzel saw Fury open his mouth to protest and quickly interrupted him. "I know what some of you are thinking – that we're just fish out of water here – but so are the guys we'll be fighting. We have what it takes to defend ourselves. With Flynn's strength, Pocahontas's speed, and my…uh…frying pan, we can help you win this battle."

All was quiet after Rapunzel's abrupt announcement. Sheryl simply smiled in appreciation of the bravery in the three volunteering characters. Everyone else, with the exception of Fury, seemed to have accepted it; they agreed with Sheryl – they would need all the help they could get in the oncoming battle. Fury still had his reservations even on the Incredibles getting involved; but he soon came upon the same realization as everyone else. "Alright, fine," he finally acknowledged, "regulations will be broken – but, then again, the laws of physics have been broken these past months – so…what the hell." He uttered the last half of his declaration with a very nonchalant attitude. He then turned to Tony and said, "Stark. You're up."

Stark stood up from the table and addressed one more (unseen) character there in the room. "J.A.R.V.I.S., put the battle schematics up, will ya?"

"Right away, sir." The automated voice of Stark's A.I. computer said from practically everywhere in the room. Rapunzel, Flynn, Pocahontas, and the Incredibles were surprised by the voice, looking around them to see where it had come from. They were all even more surprised by the holographic images of the Helicarrier and the Sphere that were suddenly projected from the center of the briefing room's table.

Sheryl approached the images, pointing directly to the one of the Sphere. "Our main objective is getting _me – _and _only_ me – into the Sphere. The hole that Tony made into its hull will be the perfect entranceway for me to get inside. Sean, you and Elendriel will fly me to that breach. As soon as I'm inside, you get away _immediately_."

"We must take into consideration that Facilier, with his new power, can alter reality at will." Lisa notified. "He will make your approach on the Sphere extremely difficult, possibly going as far as turning it into a weapon of mass destruction – the opposite of what it was initially designed to be."

"I'll do what I can to prevent many alterations from happening." Sheryl assured. "I may be the child of the Guardian, but Facilier still carries more magic than I do, so let me apologize in advance for any that manage to get through."

"We have enough firepower between the Helicarrier and Stark's armor to provide enough cover." Fury said. "But there's one _big_ problem that we should focus on – the Hulk. How will _he_ play into all of this?"

"Facilier will no doubt magically teleport the Hulk and his army into the Helicarrier as soon as we're airborne." Sheryl cautioned. "In that event, you all will need to hold these men off here long enough for me to take the power back from Facilier and do what needs to be done."

"And what are you going to do?" Rogers asked with interest.

Sheryl briefly paused before she answered him. "I'm going to send the Sphere out of this dimension and into another."

Her plan was met with grand amusement from the others, but a slight amount of disapproval from Stark. "You know, I'm not the one to reject even the most _alien_ piece of technology, but wouldn't it be best just to – I dunno – _destroy_ the Sphere and save some of the other poor schmucks in that other dimension the trouble of what we're going through now?"

"The Sphere is the only link between the Guardian and the Disneyverse." Lisa informed the billionaire. "To destroy it would be to permanently sever the only access those of us _from_ the Disney worlds have in returning home. You wouldn't want to leave several Disney characters – many of whom are _highly_ dangerous – stuck in this world, would you, Mr. Stark?"

With Lisa's question, Tony quickly found himself the subject of some judgmental stares, mostly from Flynn, Rapunzel (and Pascal), Pocahontas, and the Incredibles. To save face, he directly answered, "N-No. Of course not. I'm all for sending it to another dimension – totally."

Sheryl chuckled over Stark's shamefaced demeanor in reaction to being put on the spot. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to send the Sphere somewhere it can't trouble _anybody_ – maybe someplace where the far reaches of space is an option."

"Then we're all set for our mission." Fury professed. "All we need now is to find…"

"Director Fury!" A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had rushed into the briefing room unannounced, which Fury would have scolded him over had it not been for the frantic expression on the agent's face. "They're here."

On this news, they all exited the briefing room and went out on the flight deck. From there, the team – along with several other agents – looked up to the sky to see the Sphere occupying one section of the cloudy blue skies above the Pacific. Knowing Facilier and his men – including the Hulk – were inside the Sphere and possibly watching the Helicarrier from their current position, Fury patched himself to the bridge and gave a direct order to the agents there: "Get us airborne _now_."


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Chapter Twenty-Three: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier Base – 2012**

With the Helicarrier gaining altitude each second, time was of the essence. Every agent aboard the aircraft carrier gathered whatever weapons he or she could that would defend them against the approaching threat. On Sheryl's orders, the agents were only allowed to stun or render the men in Facilier's army unconscious; they were still residents of the Disneyverse that needed to be returned to prevent further disasters. Other precautions that were taken before the imminent confrontation included Belle, who feared Gaston would come looking for her, being kept inside one of the quarters with Jack-Jack as her protector – something Belle had a hard time believing in, due to his infant nature. Belle more than acted like a temporary babysitter the entire time she was with Jack-Jack.

Sheryl, Elendriel, and Sean had gathered into the hangar with Fury and Ciciley. They were all joined by Tony Stark, who volunteered to guide the Sheryl, Elendriel, and Sean to the Sphere while providing cover. During the moments that the team made preparations, Ciciley pulled her son to the side to have a private word with him.

"What is it?" Sean impatiently asked. "We've got to get going."

"I know, I know." Ciciley said. She sounded a little hesitant over what she wanted to tell him but managed to swallow her pride and get it out. "I just wanted to say that…I'm s-sorry…about your friend…"

"You mean my 'alien' friend?" Sean harshly responded.

Ciciley nodded, understanding the hostility that he still showed her, despite the efforts she showed in getting back into his good graces – which included helping bury Gigi earlier in the desert. "I'm sorry, honey. You have to believe that I am. She died trying to save our lives, and I respect her for that."

"Funny. You respect her only _after_ she dies."

Ciciley was speechless after that bitter – yet true – remark from her son. All she could do was hold her head down in guilt while he joined Sheryl and Elendriel in boarding the quinjet. As the three passengers buckled themselves in before takeoff, Sheryl realized how angry Sean appeared. "Is everything alright?" She questioned to him.

As if anticipating her question, Sean quickly gave an abbreviated response that was hinted with frustration: "I'm fine." The roar of the quinjet's engines prevented the conversation from continuing. Before Sheryl even realized it, the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft was already airborne, soaring out of the Helicarrier hangar with Iron Man in less than a second. Sheryl got goose bumps from the abrupt takeoff, which was reminiscent of a roller coaster ride. During her time as Yen Sid's apprentice, she learned that she was capable of flight without use of wings (i.e. Peter Pan); however, because of her vertigo (a trait that she carried from her previous life as Sean Thomas), it was one ability that she had chosen _not_ to use. Even flying in the quinjet took some courage for her, but she trusted the combined piloting skills of Sean and Elendriel Livingston enough to remain calm during the flight; yet that didn't prevent her from checking her seatbelt every few seconds by tugging on it.

Through the flight to the Sphere, Sheryl detected a shift in the atmosphere. It was Facilier. The self-proclaimed Shadow Sorcerer teleported his army into the Helicarrier as soon as it was within his view. Closing her eyes and focusing, Sheryl telepathically witnessed the events that unfolded on the Helicarrier. The first thing she could see was Gaston appearing in the exact quarters that Belle and Jack-Jack were contained in. Belle had been singing to Jack-Jack prior to Gaston's unanticipated arrival through Facilier's black magic, and she was instantly alarmed of his presence.

_"Get away from us, Gaston!"_

_"You belong with __me__, Belle! Now come here!"_

_"No!"_

_ "Is this because of that __beast__ I slayed? He was a __monster__, Belle! He never had any true feelings for you!"_

_ "And you do? I loved __him__ more than I could __ever__ love you, Gaston!"_

Belle's words greatly infuriated Gaston, resulting in him taking drastic actions in reclaiming Belle. Meanwhile, Jack-Jack cried over the dispute between the two, worrying Belle. _"Gaston, please! You're frightening the baby!"_

_"I don't care about that stupid baby!"_

It seemed that Jack-Jack caught on to what Gaston said about him because the child suddenly went berserk. Both Gaston and Belle took notice in how Jack-Jack's human infant form had transformed into a red, muscular demonic form that leaped into the air and landed atop a terrified Gaston's head. The demonic baby that was Jack-Jack began pulling Gaston's hair and clawing at his face like an angry cat, forcing the once-brave hunter to release Belle, who could only observe the scene with mixed emotions of horror and relief. Gaston cried and screamed in pain while rushing out of the quarters and away from Belle with the demonic Jack-Jack still clinging onto him.

_"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!"_

Sheryl giggled at the scene as it played out in her telepathic viewing of it. "Way to go, lil' dude!"

Elendriel heard her exclamation and looked her way. "Everything alright?"

Sheryl did not reopen her eyes while answering Elendriel. "Everything's awesome. I just saw Jack-Jack kick Gaston's butt."

"You mean Facilier's guys are on the Helicarrier?" Sean reacted to the news in immense concern. "How are the rest of them doing?"

Sheryl used the mental part of her power to search throughout the rest of the aircraft carrier, seeing several agents fend off Facilier's army of Disneyverse thugs; some did so flawlessly while others had some difficulty. Pocahontas, Rapunzel, and Flynn worked together in subduing many of the thugs with a tactic that involved Pocahontas using herself as live bait, attracting the attention of their adversaries and leading them on a chase throughout the Helicarrier. Her speed and perfect health proved beneficial against the thugs, who were mostly fat, out-of-shape, and even drunken men – presumably ones from Gaston's tavern. When the thugs were unable to chase Pocahontas any further, Flynn and Rapunzel would then pop in to knock them out – Flynn with his abilities in combat and Rapunzel with her frying pan and, in some occasions, her hair.

Rapunzel's hair even assisted in healing some agents that were wounded by thugs welding knives, swords, and guns. One thug, catching on to the power of Rapunzel's hair, attempted to cut it, but his attempt was foiled by Black Widow, who used her intense submission skills on him. Soon the Stabbington Brothers made themselves known, cornering Flynn at one point in the fight aboard the Helicarrier. Thankfully, Captain America backed him up in clashing with the two men within the Helicarrier's bridge, where the majority of the battle took place. Even LeFou stormed into that section of the S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft carrier, brandishing a large axe; but the right hand man of Gaston was abruptly tased by Hawkeye, who had been firing specialized "taser arrows" to prevent killing the army of thugs. LeFou went down before any harm could have been done by him.

"It's looking good. _Real _good." Sheryl answered the question posed to her by Sean. "Everybody's doing their part in the fight."

"Even the Incredibles?" Elendriel inquired.

The aforementioned superhero family was the only group Sheryl hadn't yet found in the fight. What she did eventually discover after being questioned by Elendriel was the Hulk, who unexpectedly emerged in the hangar that they departed from of all places in the Helicarrier. He fought against Fury and Ciciley, who were unprepared for a confrontation with the creature, armed with only standard guns that had no effect on his impenetrable green skin. They were only left to run and dodge most of the Hulk's attacks, leaving him swatting at the aircrafts surrounding them instead and taking chunks out of them. Ciciley eventually had enough of the running and boldly took the Hulk head-on, using her recently recovered youth as an advantage. She rolled in between the Hulk's legs and _literally_ kicked his butt before dodging again to kick his legs, both attacks having minimal damage on him.

Needless to say, Fury disapproved of her abrupt plan of action. _"Cici! What the hell you doing?"_

_"Buying our butts some time before Mindy and those Incredibles get here! Have you contacted them?"_

_"They'll be here! But you need to…"_

Ciciley was soon caught off guard and backhanded from the Hulk's bulbous hand. Her body flew hard and fast across the air and sickeningly smacked against the steel hull of a nearby jet. She landed uncomfortably to the floor and could barely move. Fury saw the Hulk stomp his way towards her and acted immediately. He distracted the Hulk with a few rounds of gunfire to the head, which prompted the green behemoth to turn and roar at the S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

_"Yeah. C'mon, Banner. I'm the one you want."_

The Hulk rushed for Fury, who continued firing at the Hulk's head to blind him and slow him down. The tactic worked until Fury ran out of bullets and lacked the proper ammunition to reload his gun. The Hulk roared louder and angrier than before, clearly wanting to destroy Fury. Fortunately, Fury's destruction was immediately canceled, thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Incredible as she used her stretchable body to pin the Hulk's arms down long enough for Mr. Incredible to tackle him to the floor.

With the assistance of Mrs. Incredible, Mr. Incredible wrestled with the creature until he and his wife were thrown off of him. The two flew through the air until Violet caught them in "bubbles" of psionic energy and gingerly set them on the floor. Bob chuckled excitedly upon watching the Hulk stand on his feet again. _"This big fella's gonna be a handful. It's gonna take __all__ of us to bring him down. Ready, Incredibles?"_

_"Ready!"_

Violet was the first to make a move, following her father's command in turning everything except for the Hulk's head invisible. The plan worked as a startled Hulk looked down upon his vanished form; the distraction enabled Dash to super-speed towards him and jump high in the air, unleashing a series of rapid punches directly at the Hulk's face. Even though the punches weren't enough to inflict pain on the Hulk, they were enough to temporarily blind the creature and provide cover for the one massive punch delivered by Mr. Incredible that ultimately knocked the Hulk out. Mrs. Incredible then stepped in to once again wrap her stretchable body around the Hulk, pinning both arms _and_ legs.

_"I don't know if I'll be able to hold him again when he wakes up."_

Bob remained optimistic. _"We'll just have to put our faith in the Guardian's kid to handle the rest. But everybody __be__ ready when he __does__ wake up."_

The Incredibles kept their focus on the half-unconscious Hulk, whose loud, heavy breathing was the only noise that filled the ravaged hangar. In the meantime, Fury went to tend to the injured Ciciley, who remained lying on the floor.

"Oh, crap! Heads up, y'all!"

The frantic voice of Sean Livingston brought Sheryl's attention to the action that was taking place in her current location, which was just a few miles from the Sphere. Reopening her eyes, she saw a series of gun turrets morph from the exterior of the Sphere and fire powerful bursts of fiery purple energy at both Iron Man and the quinjet. Sean and Elendriel maneuvered the quinjet out of the way of the bizarre gunfire while Iron Man flew in the opposite direction, returning fire with his repulsor blasts and taking out a few of the turrets.

"I'll hold these guns off. You guys get the sorceress into the Sphere." The voice of Tony Stark instructed over the quinjet's radio.

"Be careful, Mr. Stark." Elendriel said into her headset as she and her half-brother worked together in piloting the quinjet over to the human-sized hole breached at the top of the Sphere. They backed the quinjet right over the hole and lowered the rear ramp, offering Sheryl with enough distance between the ramp and the hole for her to jump without injury.

Unfortunately, there was a major obstacle for Sheryl to overcome before making the jump – her vertigo. Sean and Elendriel saw how she remained sitting and not moving an inch. "What's the matter?" Elendriel asked in concern.

Sheryl, looking away from the lowered ramp but still unnerved by the massive gust of wind that rushed into the quinjet, shook her head and cried, "No way! No way am I jumping out of this thing! No way!"

"Then _don't_ jump!" Sean impatiently suggested. "Teleport yourself down! Do _something_!" He saw that she was completely frozen in her seat, making any sort of action from her virtually impossible. With a loud, frustrated moan, Sean got up from his pilot's chair. As he had done so, he instructed his half-sister, "As soon as we're inside, you and Stark get away from here."

His instruction befuddled and alarmed her. "Wait. You're going in there with her? That wasn't part of the plan."

"Neither was her fear of heights." Sean argued before going to Sheryl and unbuckling her seatbelt. She briefly opened her eyes to see what he was doing. "I'm jumping out with you."

Sheryl shook her head. "No, no! I have to do this _alone_!"

"You have vertigo. I know, because I once did, too." He surprised her with that information; it was enough to take her mind off of her nerves. "The only way I learned _not_ to be afraid was having somebody show me _how_ not to be, which is what I'm going to do for you. Now take my hand, keep your eyes closed, and trust me."

Sheryl looked at his face and saw his determination to help. His face was all she needed to trust him because it was the face she once saw looking back at her in the mirror. Without hesitation, she did as he instructed and gave him her hand before shutting her eyes tight. She continued to feel the gust of wind from outside the jet blow past her as she got up from her seat and moved along with Sean. She felt the wind grow stronger with each step they took together, indicating how much closer they got to the edge of the ramp. Her grip on his hand tightened. When he instructed her to stop, she did so right away and wondered why he wanted her to.

She got her answer once she heard him shout back to Elendriel, "Elle! Tell Moms that I forgive her!" To Sheryl, it sounded like a last request. She would have questioned it had he not then asked her, "Do you still trust me?" She nodded. "Then…_jump_!"

On his command, she allowed her feet to depart from the edge of the ramp.


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

**Chapter Twenty-Four: S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier – 2012**

Mindy felt like kicking herself when she received the call from Fury that the Hulk had arrived in the hangar, because she was on the other side of the Helicarrier with Lisa, Sammi, and Pluto, dealing with the dozen thugs that popped in unannounced. With her "Super Soldier" abilities, taking out the thugs was not a problem; but she preferred her skillset to be reserved for the Hulk, who was not only a more challenging adversary but a far more dangerous one to everyone else on the aircraft carrier. Once she was finished putting the thugs into submission, she rushed over to the hangar with Lisa, Sammi, and Pluto in tow and found a half-sleeping Hulk tied down by Mrs. Incredible.

At first, Mindy was highly disappointed that she missed out on the confrontation, but disappointment made way for concern when she spotted Fury tending to an injured Ciciley. "Oh, no," she cried while rushing over to them. "Is she alright?"

Ciciley groaned – more in anger than in pain. "Argh! I don't go down so easily to _any_ greenie…even the _literal_ ones." Her sarcasm was enough to assure Mindy that she was fine, albeit wracked with pain.

"I should've been here with you all." Mindy said, her discouragement returning.

"Nobody could've counted on the Hulk coming to this part of the ship, kid." Fury justified. "We were _all_ caught off guard. Don't blame yourself on what happened."

Mindy nodded, accepting Fury's justification for the unforeseen change of events. It still didn't prevent her from playing out what would have happened had she arrived on time to help them face the Hulk. All her years of training, being built up to be as efficient of a soldier as Captain America himself, put into perfect use against the green behemoth, making both Fury and especially Ciciley proud. Her fantasy was brought to a brusque end when she and the others heard loud, frantic shrieking from past the hangar entrance.

They watched Gaston enter with Jack-Jack (back in his normal form) still clinging to his head and giggling. Seeing Jack-Jack on top of Gaston's head, Helen went into her "mother mode," distracted enough to untie herself from the Hulk and focus on her infant son along with Bob, Violet, and Dash, who were all equally concerned. "What's that guy doing to my son?" She shouted.

Gaston, hearing what Helen had said, managed to remove Jack-Jack from his head and hold him in his massive hands, glaring at him. "What am _I_ doing to _him_? _He_ did _this_ to _me_!" He pointed to the deep scratches on his once-flawless face, which made him look as if he had been mauled by a tiger. "This child is a monster! And I'm going to do what I _always _do to monsters!"

"NO!" The Incredibles screamed as they watched Gaston toss the giggling Jack-Jack into the air and swiftly pull out his bow and arrow, intending to exterminate the infant child while it was in the air.

Before the arrow could have escaped Gaston's bow, he was brought down by Sammi, who unleashed an effective punch to Gaston's already damaged face. Both Gaston and his weapon fell to the floor with a collective _thud_; he drifted into unconscious straightaway. "Why don't ya pick on someone your _own_ size, big fella?" Sammi told the beaten Gaston while Pluto successfully caught Jack-Jack by the collar with his teeth. "Way to go, Pluto!"

Helen and the other Incredibles rushed to Pluto and Jack-Jack. She took her baby from Pluto, who was shown gratitude for his quick-thinking by the superhero family as they petted him. Dash was so thankful of the noble dog's actions that he randomly exclaimed, "I wanna dog just like this one!"

The sudden request caught Bob off guard. "Well, uh…we'll consider that when we get back home, Dash."

Meanwhile, Lisa expressed her own gratitude for the heroic actions of Sammi, giving a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. "That was a brave deed, apprentice."

"Had to do something, Master. Couldn't let this ol' bully hurt that lil' guy." Sammi said as she looked upon the unconscious Gaston and felt a surge of confidence. "Wow. Don't even know my own strength, do I?"

"Only because it was not _your_ strength – it was Sammi's." Lisa stated.

Sammi blushed and chuckled as the mouse behind the make-believe S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was reminded of that fact. "Oh, uh, right."

When it seemed that things had calmed down after the downfall of Gaston, the growl of a reawakening Hulk returned chaos to the provisionally peaceful atmosphere. Mindy's body grew tense, as did the others in the hangar with her, upon seeing the Hulk return to his feet and glare at them all. Mindy looked around at the group – Fury and Ciciley were already exhausted and battered from the earlier confrontation, the Incredibles were now tasked with protecting their youngest member from the monster, and there was so much Lisa, Sammi, and Pluto could do in this situation. She realized that the moment she had prepared herself for had come, and she did not waste any time in engaging. All of her frustrations in missing out on her previous opportunity, which resulted in Ciciley's injury, she put into each remarkable blow that she released on the Hulk.

Ciciley watched and smiled proudly over the variety of fighting skills Mindy used against the Hulk, each one taking the creature by surprise. Mindy was too quick for him, cartwheeling and back-flipping her way around and even over him while at times knocking him off his feet. She was indeed the female equivalent of Captain America and surprising everyone in the hangar, especially Fury.

"Remember – that's _my_ girl," Ciciley whispered to the smiling S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

* * *

From the moment he first laid eyes on its round, gigantic structure, Sean had been profoundly curious to see the inside of the Sphere, which made accompanying Sheryl inside of it not so bad for him. The interior of the Sphere was not as exciting as he expected it to be. The corridors that he and Sheryl passed through looked not nearly as engaging as the ones in the Helicarrier. To him, it looked more like the corridors from Captain Kirk's Enterprise, only more chrome-plated. A pair of red and green pipes ran along the upper half of the walls – to where they led, Sean didn't have the foggiest idea. It was hard for him to believe a Muppet designed and constructed such a massive innovation.

"Is it true?"

He heard Sheryl question him while they were rapidly walking through the corridor. "What?"

"What you said about having vertigo? Is it true?"

"What does it matter? It got our big butts in here, didn't it?"

Sheryl stopped just as they reached an intersection, urging Sean to stop as well and see the intensity on her face as she addressed him. "It matters because it means all other versions of me in different realms are _like_ me in personality but not in lifestyle. For example, do you hate spicy foods?"

Sean scoffed. "What does _that_ have to…?"

"_Do you_?"

He saw that she was being serious with her inquiry; this was something that she desperately needed to know, despite the highly important mission they were on. With a heavy sigh, he answered, "Yes. Yes, I've _always_ hated spicy foods."

Sheryl nodded. "You _are_ me. Or, at least, you're who I _once_ was." She shook her head negatively. "No, no. You can_not_ be here with me, Sean. If anything happens to you…"

Their conversation ended just as a loud _boom_ echoed throughout the intersecting corridors while a hail of gunfire whizzed by their heads and struck one of the overhead pipes, releasing a geyser of steam. The two turned to find a familiar character standing further down their corridor and aiming his rifle at them both. It didn't take much focus for Sean and Sheryl to recognize the visitor as they both shouted out his name: "Clayton!"

Another hail of gunfire escaped the barrel of his rifle, prompting Sean and Sheryl to take cover at one of the corners of the corridor that intersected theirs. Sean drew out his Screaming Eagle but was quickly stopped by Sheryl. "No! We _can't_ hurt him!"

"Then you come up with _another_ way to keep him from bustin' a cap in us!" Sean demanded with aggravation. "I don't know why he's shooting at _me_ anyway. The last time I met this guy he nearly killed me with that same gun. And now he's trying to do it on purpose? Something's not right here."

Taking this information into consideration, Sheryl poked her head around the corner and stared directly at Clayton, who saw her exposed head and took aim. Her eyes briefly glowed as she fleetingly "scanned" Clayton before moving her head back behind the corner in time to avoid the shot Clayton took at the architecture, barely putting a scratch in it. After receiving the info she needed from her scan, she turned to Sean and said, "He's been enchanted by Facilier, just like the Hulk. He's no longer in control of his thoughts or actions."

"So what do we do?"

"I have to bring an end to this nightmare he's created. It's the only way to get everything back to normal."

"Then go. Go take that fool down. I'll take care of _this_ one."

Sheryl desperately sighed, taking one last look at Sean. She hugged him and whispered in his ear, "Stay alive, brother."

Sean smiled. "Same to you, brot—er—sister."

She then left his side and ran down the intersecting corridor, crossing Clayton's field of vision and encouraging him to try and take another shot at her. Sean robbed him of that chance by firing his Screaming Eagle Clayton's way, making sure not to strike him. He took cover again as Clayton fired at him, hitting the floor that time. Sean realized that the gorilla hunter (now _man_ hunter) was getting closer to his position. Searching for another way of dealing with the adversary, Sean spotted the pipe that Clayton struck; steam continued to shoot out of it, clouding up half of the corridor. This gave him the excellent strategy against Clayton.

Putting his Screaming Eagle to a more effective use, Sean fired upon the pipes. Large quantities of steam shot out from the pipes, obscuring Clayton's view. The strategy worked _too_ well for Sean as _his_ view was obscured by the dense fog also. _Smooth move, Livingston_, he cynically thought to himself. Using his S.H.I.E.L.D. training, he kept his focus keen, just as he anticipated Clayton had done, and hoped that he didn't have to use the Screaming Eagle against the armed Disney villain.

* * *

When Sheryl arrived in the Sphere's generator room, she expected it to appear the way it did when she was there last time as Sean Thomas. It was the most majestic area of the Sphere, housing its main power source. Whether it was science or sorcery that powered the generator, Sheryl would never be certain about; but what she _was_ certain about was Facilier being there. The scene that welcomed her presence in the area was not that of a majestic one but an eerie, terrifying one instead. The gigantic area – shaped in the same manner of the sphere it was contained in with walls that reflected its exterior structure – carried an atmosphere reminiscent of a voodoo shop. The glowing, spinning, and floating mini version of the geodesic sphere in the glass cylinder – that was part of a large, complex generator mechanism in the very center of the room – was purple rather than orange.

Shadows of monstrous creatures moved about the walls, darkening the large room to the point where the mini sphere was the only source of light that illuminated a tiny portion of it. The moving shadows, which Sheryl figured were Facilier's "Friends on the Other Side" (accompanying him in his goal of "universe domination"), stopped and glared her way as she entered. From their awareness of her, she realized that Facilier was aware of her presence as well. He stood in his dark form at the end of the walkway leading to the control panel; Yen Sid's hat glowed in an eerie purple hue on top of his head. Slowly, he spun around – not with his body but by the magic he possessed – and looked towards Sheryl with his glowing purple eyes.

"So…got your fancy body back, eh?" He spoke in his new voice, which sounded deeper and more hallowed than the last time she heard it. "You _are_ just like your dear mama. Just too bad she ain't here to cheer you on. You're all alone."

She didn't allow his taunts to get the best of her. Instead, she focused on her primary goal and began moving down the walkway with a surge of confidence. "It's over, Facilier. That magic isn't yours anymore."

"It _is_ mine, child. Just watch what I can do with it."

Sheryl felt her next steps hard to take. Looking down, she saw that her feet and shins had melted into a puddle of mixed colors on the walkway. She was cut down to size because of Facilier's trick, putting her at a foot below her regular height. The shadows – Facilier's "Friends" – cackled at her weakened state. However, unbeknownst to Facilier and his connections, Sheryl remained calm and focused. They watched in surprise as her melted lower half reformed itself, enabling her to continue advancing towards an unsettled Facilier.

"You think you can just take it away from me so easily? Well, you're _wrong_!"

Sheryl felt an odd, prickly sensation come over every inch of her body. She looked at her hands and witnessed the flesh dissolve from it, giving way to just bones. The rest of her body followed the same process until only her skeleton remained. Her skeletal remnants then dissolved on their own, leaving only a pile of ash and clothes on the walkway. Facilier smiled and his "Friends" screeched over the sinister deed. Unfortunately for them, the celebration was short-lived as Sheryl's ashes and clothes swirled upwards by an invisible force and she was returned to normal right before the stunned eyes of Facilier.

She grinned at the so-called Shadow Sorcerer's facial reaction, which implied panic. "All out of tricks, Doc?"

Facilier did indeed panic as Sheryl got closer and closer to him. But when he saw that confidence in her face – the same confidence Sean showed when _he_ had him cornered back in the base, an idea struck the mind of the Shadow Sorcerer. He smiled and told the sorceress, "Just one."

Again, Sheryl felt the odd, prickly sensation come over her body. Believing him to have used the same spell, she was heavily unimpressed. "Such a lame attempt at…" She stopped at the moment she heard her voice, which _wasn't_ her voice. It was the voice of her original incarnation, Sean Thomas. Looking at her hands, she noticed that they were the hands of a young black male. She reached up and touched her hair; it was very short and curly instead of long and straight.

A handheld mirror magically materialized in the hands of Facilier, and he held it right in front of Sheryl. She saw not herself in her reflection but a 26-year-old Sean Thomas. She touched her own face and Sean performed the same action in the mirror. She had _really_ transformed back into Sean Thomas – all because of Facilier. The Shadow Sorcerer relished in seeing how his last spell finally ensnared his opponent. "Look at it. Your old self again. Yen Sid never taught you how to go back to bein' the man you once were, but _I_ can. It's what you've wanted since becoming Sheryl. Your youth, your manhood, and your humanity. It can be all yours…if you become _my_ apprentice."

Sean Thomas looked away from the mirror and to Facilier, glaring upon the Shadow Sorcerer. "You had me until 'my apprentice.'" Without warning, he reached at the hat on Facilier's head and got a strong grip on it. He felt an overwhelming surge of negative energy shock and paralyze his hand, yet he maintained his grip on it. His hand slowly morphed back into that of Sheryl, as did the rest of his body, eliminating Facilier's spell and returning him to his reincarnated form.

Sheryl remained focused despite the devastating negative energy that attempted to drain out her life force – the same sinister power that killed her mother. She screamed in immense pain, much to Facilier's delight. But the screams of agony soon turned to those of will. Her eyes glowed in a fierce ghostly white hue while she took control of the evil force that attempted to eradicate her. She grew stronger through her determination; in contrast, Facilier began to grow weaker from his loss of focus. The sudden shift in power caught him off guard; he tried to fight back, but his efforts led to black smoke emitting from beneath the hat and a burning pain that came over his scalp. Now Facilier was the one screaming in agony, whereas Sheryl remained calm.

After a prolonged struggle between the two powerful entities over the hat, Facilier was finally forced to yield. He fell back, pushed away by an unseen force, and collapsed on the walkway. His "Shadow Sorcerer" attire faded back into his regular clothes, only they had become tattered – presumably from the struggle that he lost in. His hair was completely singed off, leaving only a bald and badly burned head. In his weakened state, he gazed up at Sheryl, who stood victorious with the hat, which had returned to its glittering blue and white design. It glowed under her touch as she looked on it with her glowing white eyes.

In his horrid, pitiful condition, Facilier panicked and resorted to begging at the feet of Sheryl. "P-Please. D-Don't take me b-back. Y-Y-You don't know w-what they'll d-do to me."

"I _do_ know, Facilier," Sheryl said in her mighty, hallowed voice. "The question is: _Are you ready?_"

Facilier caught on to her reference, and it terrified him. He looked around at the shadows – his "Friends" – and realized that they were all glaring at him in the wake of Sheryl's victory. "No. No! NO! OH, PLEASE! NO!" He watched Sheryl place the hat upon her head and was blinded by the intense white light that phenomenally emerged from her entire body, consuming Facilier, the shadows, and the entire room.

* * *

In the midst of the wild brawl between Mindy and the Hulk – which battered, bruised, and bloodied the two combatants – the Hulk fell to his knees and clasped his head with both hands. Mindy and the others looked on in confusion, wondering if she struck him hard enough to induce brain damage. In a surprising turn of events, they then saw the green behemoth change back into the form of Bruce Banner and collapse to the floor. They attempted to verbally question the circumstance until a bright flash of light shined into the hangar area, temporarily blinding them. It was not an explosion as there was not a loud _boom_ to accompany the flash; yet it did come directly from where the Sphere hovered in the sky.

Once the light was extinguished, they saw that the Sphere had disappeared from the sky. In addition to the alien artifact, the Incredibles and Gaston disappeared as well from the Helicarrier's hangar. But the group did gain one member that appeared in the area while the characters vanished. It was Sean Livingston, who was bewildered to find himself back on the aircraft carrier. "How did I get _here_?"

"We might ask _you_ the same question." Fury remarked.

"I dunno." Sean said, still baffled to see that he was there. "One minute, I was hiding from Clayton in the Sphere…then the next, I'm back here."

The engines of an approaching jet aircraft directed their attention to the hangar entrance as both the quinjet and Iron Man returned. Soon after the landing, Elendriel departed from the ramp and was taken aback from her half-brother's presence. "How did you…?"

"Don't ask." Sean replied before she had a chance to finish.

Static came over Fury's earpiece; he then heard Maria Hill's frantic voice annihilate his ear drum. "Director Fury! Are you there, sir? Come in! This is Agent Hill!"

"Hill, what's your situation?" Fury asked.

"It's…all clear here, sir. The enemy has just…disappeared." Hill informed. "Every single intruder is gone. So are our friends in this fight – Flynn, Rapunzel, Belle, and Pocahontas."

Fury felt relieved over the news. "And so has the Sphere and the Incredibles."

"And the Hulk, sir?"

Fury glanced over at the unconscious Bruce Banner, who was being checked on by Mindy. "Back in our good graces. Banner's going to need some medical assistance." He looked down at Ciciley and added, "Make that two."

"Screw you," said a grinning, sarcastic Ciciley.

From the corner of his eye, Sean noticed shifts in the shapes of Lisa and Sammi. Turning his head to the two agents, he realized that they had morphed back into their true identities as Mickey Mouse and Yen Sid. "So it _did_ work," he deduced from their display of sorcery. "Sheryl stopped Facilier."

"She did indeed, Agent Livingston." Yen Sid confirmed. "Our magic has returned and order has been restored to our worlds."

"I just knew she'd get the job done." Mickey said while petting Pluto.

"We must not stay within this realm any longer if we wish not to create a rift between dimensions." Yen Sid stated. "Thank you all for the bravery you have shown here today. There are many in the Disneyverse who owe your thanks."

Yen Sid, Mickey, and Pluto slowly dematerialized from the hangar. As they had done so, Sean quickly addressed a concern of his that he knew he would never get another chance to once Yen Sid was gone. "Hey! Will I ever get to see Sheryl again? I…I want to thank her for what she did."

"She is Guardian of this world and others now." Yen Sid answered. "Your paths may cross again…or they may _never_."

The master sorcerer's ambiguous reply did not help bring Sean at ease. Yen Sid, Mickey, and Pluto faded completely away from the hangar and the dimension. All was quiet in the massive room until Tony Stark raised his arms up and asked, "So who's for some shawarma?" The question earned him some dirty looks from the others. "Hey, I have declared it an official 'victory meal,' so I'm damn well gonna get some after saving the world _again_." With that said, the Iron Man proudly departed from the hangar.


	26. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Realm D1940**

There was a great difference in the way time functioned between the Disneyverse and the realms outside of it. Mickey was often reminded of this when Yen Sid observed the outside worlds through the magic mirror in his workshop. As Yen Sid observed "The Marvelous World," as Sheryl referred it, Mickey saw that the current events unfolding in the mirror were nearly a whole year after their adventure there, and only three months had passed for him, Yen Sid, and Sheryl. The lives of the people in that particular realm were certainly changed, thanks to the influences of the Sphere and the people involved with it. Agent Sean Livingston worked with both his half-sister and his rejuvenated mother in S.H.I.E.L.D.; at times they brought along Mindy, who seemed to have bonded rather easily with the three while on the job.

Then there were the Avengers – Steve Rogers (Captain America), Tony Stark (Iron Man), Bruce Banner (The Hulk), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), and Clint Barton (Hawkeye). The team of heroes had been disassembled since the confrontation with Facilier and his army, going their separate ways and maintaining their personal lives – or, in Tony Stark's case, trying his best to. According to Yen Sid, although Stark seemed physically fine after the excursion, there were still mental scars. Combined with the "Loki Incident," there was much left from the events that made Stark feel more vulnerable towards the wonders of the universe. Steve Rogers, on the other hand, was enlightened from his experiences in a more positive way; his time with Pocahontas in her world had given him a new outlook on his life in the modern world. Although it would still be challenging for the Captain to keep up with the times, he would always remember to follow Grandmother Willow's advice and listen with his heart. And Bruce Banner, who spent most of his time in the escapade as the Hulk (and a pawn of Facilier's), could not remember a thing from it all; to him, it might all as well have been a dream.

In his time within "The Marvelous World" in the guise of Sammi Solus, Mickey was extremely impressed with the Avengers; he was even amused of the fact that there was one other that he had not meet yet – Thor. From the stories Yen Sid told of the "God of Thunder," Mickey imagined how differently the fight against Facilier would have turned out had Thor been involved. Still, he was thankful of the bravery of the team and S.H.I.E.L.D. even after three months (or a year). He wished that he could have gone back into "The Marvelous World" to see them all again, even if it was just to say "thank you" once more. Unfortunately, Yen Sid forbade anyone except for Sheryl to return to the realm. But Sheryl had yet to return to the realm on her own accord. It was possible that she still felt a great loss over her mother, preventing her from going back to the world that she lost her in.

While Yen Sid was busy with his observation from the magic mirror, Mickey performed his usual chore of dumping water into the well. On that particular day, Mickey could not have been happier to do the chore, seeing the water fill up to the brim and provide a perfect reflection of him. Having reflected that day on his time in "The Marvelous World," Mickey tried to remember when he last stopped and looked at his own face. He spent so much time as Sammi Solus that he almost forgot what his _real_ face even looked like. In his time of staring at his reflection, Pluto moved in beside him, barking happily.

The mouse petted his dog on the head and smiled. "It was fun bein' someone else for a while; but, boy, did I ever miss bein' just _me_ – Mickey Mouse. Yen Sid says the only way we can stay in the other worlds for a long time without creating another rift is to _mask_ ourselves – blend in, I guess ya can say. But, one day, I'm gonna see a world as _me_ and no one else."

Pluto barked in agreement with Mickey's optimism as they both returned inside to Yen Sid's workshop. Just as the pair entered the room, they were surprised by the arrival of fellow sorcerers Katie and Anne-Marie. Mickey was pleased to have seen that the two ladies were healing well from the injuries they endured at the enormous hands of the Hulk. When magic was the best medical treatment for bruises and broken bones, there would always be assurance of a rapid recovery.

"You girls were pretty brave fightin' that Hulk fella." Mickey said.

Anne-Marie nodded. "Brave yet foolish. That creature, even though remarkable in nature, is a menace to the world he dwells in."

"Hey, c'mon, Anne-Marie." Katie pleaded. "He was under a dark spell. You can't blame the guy for that. He's a real hero in his world, just like all the other Avengers. I'd consider it a _huge_ honor just to have my butt kicked by the Hulk."

Anne-Marie grinned and shook her head. "Maybe yours, but not mine."

Taking his focus away from the two sorceresses, Mickey centered his attention on Yen Sid, who moved to observing the events of the realms of _Tangled_, _Pocahontas_, _The Princess and the Frog_, _The Incredibles_, _Tarzan_, and _Beauty and the Beast_. Mickey looked past his master and toward the magic mirror, which revealed each world as a moving collage under a rippling effect. As both Mickey and Yen Sid hoped, the worlds were restored to their proper order with none of the characters that had an involvement in "The Marvelous World" having any memory of their adventure there. Not even Facilier or Gaston, who both met their demise in their respective worlds, remembered enough to prevent their unhappy endings. Mickey was especially pleased to see the Beast, who still died but was resurrected back into human form, finally have his happy ending with Belle.

Mickey smiled over _all_ the happy endings displayed in the mirror. "Boy, when ya look at it all, it makes ya think how much it was all worth it."

Yen Sid moved his right hand across the mirror, and it turned into just an ordinary mirror on the wall under his command. "Indeed, my apprentice." He then returned to his desk; but as he had done so, they noticed how he appeared melancholic.

Concerned, Anne-Marie stepped in closer to the master sorcerer and said, "Yen Sid? Is something the matter?"

He sighed before answering their concerns. "In my observation of the universe today, I came upon a troubling discovery."

"Oh, no." Mickey uttered, not sure if he can take any bad news so soon after their adventure in "The Marvelous World." "There's not another villain in the Disneyverse trying to take over, is there?"

Yen Sid shook his head. "No, Mickey. The villains of this universe – those who are still aware of the Guardian, that is – know not to challenge her power." He sighed and then added, "But even I have underestimated the _true_ power of the Guardian."

His abstruse dialogue was only concerning them more. "Yen Sid," Anne-Marie addressed once more, "What 'troubling discovery' did you come across?"

There was a long pause from the master sorcerer and he finally said, "Our first Guardian – Joanie…or Gigi…or whatever you prefer to call her – is still alive."

This breaking news was greeted with surprise from Anne-Marie, Katie, Pluto, and especially Mickey Mouse. "H-How…How is it possible?"

* * *

**Destination: Another Galaxy  
Time: A Long Time Ago**

In the far reaches of space, the Sphere floated among the vast stars. It was entirely empty from inside and, due to the loss of power in the generator and the heating system, much of the interior had frozen because of the climate. It had become a useless piece of technology, dumped into outer space by Sheryl, just as she promised the people of "The Marvelous World." Of course, it did not appear that way to the people in the dagger-shaped spacecraft that had approached the Sphere's location. From the bridge of the highly advanced spacecraft, several officers dressed in uniforms that varied in color operated the massive ship. In the center of it all, looking out at the Sphere through the window, there stood one naval officer wearing an olive-gray double-breasted tunic and trousers, a corresponding cover, a black leather belt with a silver buckle, black leather boots, black leather gloves, and a rank badge on his left breast.

The naval officer was highly enthralled by the machinery that they discovered in that sector of the galaxy. He almost did not realize that he was being spoken to by a tall, dark figure that had entered the bridge and made his powerful presence known to the technicians and other personnel there. "Have you found something, Admiral?" The figure questioned in his deep, augmented, and slightly automated voice that was accompanied by labored, mechanical breathing.

"Yes, my lord," answered the admiral, snapping himself out of his fixation of the Sphere. "We detected it just as we came out of lightspeed. We do not know yet what it is or what its functions are, but I have my men examining it now."

The dark figure looked out to the Sphere and was silent for a long period of time as if he took a moment to scan the alien technology himself with a skill only he possessed. When he instantly received his information from the scan, he turned back to the admiral and said, "The structure of this artifact bears a similar shape to the Empire's greatest weapon, yet I sense _more _power from within it. We shall bring it to the Emperor. _He_ will determine its usefulness to the Empire."

The admiral acknowledged this plan of action from the dark character that then departed from the bridge. "Yes, Lord Vader."

**The Marvelous World:**

**World of Disney 2**


End file.
